More Than Words
by liblouella81
Summary: Post-Hannah/Booth break up...how have things changed?  Based about a year after the fact with flashbacks to come!  Who will be there when Brennan has a major breakdown?  M for future language and possible smut!  B/B, A/H!
1. Give Her Time

****AN: Hi, Guys! This Bones scene flashed into my head while I was in the middle of class today, so I punched out this as soon as I got home :) This is my 2nd fanfic (the other being for Law and Order: SVU...still in progress, kind of stuck at the moment though)...but reviews and comments are GREATLY appreciated! I'm always looking for ways to better my writing and keeping readers interested. **

**This is post-Hannah/Booth breakup...about a year later. Angela isn't pregnant in here (yet...)...I didn't want to incorporate the baby since we don't know what she's having yet! But the rest of the gang is all here...Cam, Sweets, Daisy, Hodgins, and other interns as we go along :) ENJOY! ****

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Dr. Temperance Brennan sat at her desk at the Jeffersonian for the first time in nine months. Her nerves were crawling, stomach was flipping, and skin was clammy. She powered on her computer and looked across her office as she waited. Her eyes came upon a silver picture frame with a ribbon pattern around it that sat on the edge of her desk, causing her to take a deep breath and smile.

The picture, taken three years earlier, was of two people. Two people who were _so_ entirely different than they were in the present time. She remembered the night the picture was taken. The Jeffersonian hosted their annual Donors' Ball, and just like every other year, Dr. Brennan was forced to go. But the year that the picture was taken, there was a different element that made things so much more pleasant.

"Booth," she spoke softly and sighed. She had her arms slung around his broad shoulders as she smiled beautifully for the camera, her blue eyes glistening. The FBI agent, on the other hand, wasn't looking at the camera. He was looking up at her, his brown eyes full of hope and desire along with a genuine smile on his face.

Brennan felt a drop of moisture roll down her cheek as she remembered what it was like to be happy. She wasn't normally so sentimental, but the previous year had completely changed her personality. Well, to be honest, the previous year had just brought her old "Dr. Temperance Brennan, Anthropologist" attitude back out.

Shaking her head quickly and turning to look back at the computer, she wiped the tear off of her cheek and took a deep breath. "You can do this, Brennan," she told herself. She knew it was going to be different, being back at the Jeffersonian after nine months, but she didn't expect to feel the amount of loneliness that she felt. Hell, she didn't expect to _feel_ anything.

As she tapped a few keys on the keyboard, entering the password to log-on to her computer, she heard a soft knock at the door. Looking over, she smiled as she saw her best friend. "Hey, Ange," she said as she motioned for the artist to come inside her office.

"I was just wanting to check and see how you're adjusting to being back," Angela said as she plopped on Brennan's couch.

"Adjustment is a natural adaptation that every human being must come to terms with, Ange. After three days, my world will be right side up again."

Angela chuckled and rolled her eyes before she landed them on the stone-cold scientist sitting across the room. "Sweetie…are you okay?"

"Didn't I just answer that?" Brennan replied as she clicked away at her overflowing email inbox.

"Bren, you know what I mean…" Angela got up and walked to the large desk, propping herself up on it with her hands. "Have you talked to him?" she asked in a soft, caring voice.

"Who are you referring to?" Brennan asked as she looked up. Angela cocked an eyebrow towards her best friend and cleared her throat. "Booth?" Brennan asked again, realizing what Angela was hinting at.

Nodding her head and widening her eyes, Angela sighed. "Yes, Booth. Have you talked to Booth?"

"No. Why would I converse with him? I am no longer a liaison with the FBI, we have no business together." Her fingers flew across the keyboard, trying to keep her mind off of the _feeling_ thing again.

"You need to talk to him, sweetie," Angela urged as she stood up and crossed her arms in front of her.

Taking a subtle deep breath, Brennan looked up. "Why?" she asked sternly. "Why would I talk to him? There is no point. He cannot help me further my career any farther. He does not cause endorphins or dopamine to surge my neural cavity and body. There is no point. And if there is no point, I'm not partaking." Returning to her emails, Brennan noticed her stomach flipping again.

"I'll tell you why, Bren. And you need to listen to me," Angela responded, reaching out and turning her best friend's head back towards her. "Are you listening?"

"Yes." Her answer was short, but it was enough to signal to Angela that she wasn't in the mood for this talk.

"Brennan…no matter all of the complete crap that happened between you two and Hannah and whoever the hell else, you still care about him. You care so much that when you came back into this office, all you could think about was all the times he was in here and made you smile or laugh. I remember you kissing him right over there," she said, pointing, "and I remember the way that your face lit up when he would say his corny-Booth lines and smile. And even though you didn't understand them, they made you happy because you knew he was happy."

Angela took a deep breath and took Brennan's hands in her own. "Sweetie…in this world…not your science world, but in this very real world…you can either forgive and forget, or hold a grudge for the rest of your human life." Brennan's eyes were tearing up as Angela rubbed the back of her porcelain hand. "He called me every day when you were gone, Bren. Every. Day. He asked about you and what you were doing, where you were going, who you were meeting, everything. He still cares, sweetie. He just didn't know how to show it when he was hurt."

Another tear rolled down the anthropologist's flushed cheek. "Just promise me that you will at least consider what I've told you…" Angela requested.

Nodding, Brennan replied "I will analyze the information that you have given me and attempt to apply it to the situation."

"Good," Angela said with a smirk. "Now…let's go get a drink!" she shouted, pulling Brennan up from her desk.

"Ange, I really don't feel like drinking…" the groaning scientist said as Angela pulled her out of her office.

"Then don't drink. But I'm starving, and I know you _have_ to eat, so let's go."

"Uuugh," Brennan groaned as she pulled her office door to the frame.

* * *

"I'm so glad you're back, Dr. Brennan!" Cam said from across the large table. "We've missed you terribly."

"I found myself to be quite lonely without the accompaniment of all of my colleagues, as well," she said and pushed the food around her plate.

"How was your work in Argentina, Dr. Brennan? From what I've heard, it sounds fascinating!" Daisy Wicks asked ask Dr. Sweets put his arm around her shoulders.

After taking a quick drink, Brennan spoke up. "The work was very interesting, Miss Wick. I had the pleasure of working with the local tribes in order to determine if the skeletons found on their land were actually members of the tribe. There have been many multiple-skeletal discoveries in South America recently."

Angela looked towards the door as she listened to Brennan, only to have her eyes widen and become stuck on the entryway. She shook her head quickly, trying not to cause a big ruckus. "What is it, Ange?" Hodgins whispered as he kissed her cheek.

"Three o'clock. Trouble," she said quietly trying not to draw any attention to what was happening.

"Hey!" Daisy shouted, pointing. "Look who it is!" Angela's head went down.

"Freaking loudmouth intern," she hissed under her breath.

Cam stood up and smiled. "Booth!" she welcomed him with a hug. "We haven't seen you in months!"

"Hey squints," he said, noticing the oh-so-familiar person sitting at the corner of the table. Both of their hearts raced as Brennan avoided eye contact. He _knew_ that she wasn't going to make the first move. "Hello, Dr. Brennan."

Looking up quickly, she nodded. "Agent Booth," she addressed him sternly with her teeth clenched and looked back down at her plate.

Hodgins squeezed Angela's hand under the table. "We may witness a murder," he whispered into her ear. She shrugged with big eyes.

After a long, awkward silence, Daisy coughed and elbowed Lance. "Booth, why don't you join us?" Sweets offered, wanting to push Brennan to open back up.

"Oh, no…I don't want to ruin your dinn-," he said with a smile.

Cam raised her hand and interrupted him. "Nonsense, Seeley. Drag up a chair." Hiding an evil smile, she moved her chair over towards Sweets, leaving the only empty spot beside Dr. Brennan.

Dragging a chair over, Booth sat down with a chill running down his spine. He watched as the others carried on conversations. Everybody was talking. Everybody except _her_. Looking over at her, he noticed her auburn hair falling in soft curls around her face. She looked exhausted, but she held her eyes wide open staring at her plate. _'Talk to her, you idiot,'_ he told himself.

His stomach was in knots as he kept catching glimpses of her. He anticipated a loud spot in the conversation going on between the rest of the group, about something he couldn't care less about, and jumped on his chance. "Bones…" he nearly whispered. Angela watched sharply from the other side of Brennan.

She finally caught Booth's eyes and shook her head slowly as her eyes got wide again. Booth rolled his eyes and looked back at the beautiful figure sitting next to him. "Bones…will you please talk to me?" he asked, still in a low voice.

Brennan snatched her purse from the back of the chair and rummaged through it. After finding what she wanted, she threw a twenty dollar bill down on the table, stood up, and began to leave. "Bren!" Angela called out.

As she made it to the door, her eyes were growing watery, and Booth was only half a step behind her, leaving the rest of the crew in shock. "Bones…" he called out as he finally exited the building, watching the back of her walk away. He took a couple of quick steps and finally made it to in front of her, stopping her from walking. "Talk to me…please…" he begged.

She looked up at him with her slate-gray eyes filled with tears. Her jaw was clenched shut and her fists were squeezed tightly. She took a step to the right, followed by Booth moving that way, also. Trying the same step to the left, he was in front of her again.

Abruptly, Brennan turned and started walking the other way as tears began to slowly roll down her cheeks. Her high heels were making a loud _clack_ against the sidewalk as she walked quickly. Yet again, Booth stepped in front of her. "Temperance…" he said and put his hands on her upper arms. "Talk to me…_please_…" he begged again.

Without another thought, Brennan pulled her arm back as far as she could and knocked Booth across his face. "Don't touch me," she growled through her clamped teeth before resuming her walking.

"Bones!" Booth called out and got in front of her yet again as he rubbed his face. "Bones, listen to me…if it takes you having to hit me a million times in order for you to talk to me, I'm going to stand here and take it." She looked up again through her reddened, blurry eyes.

"Please just let me leave, Booth…" she pleaded. Her voice was small and so much less powerful than normal. It absolutely broke his heart when she cried…but especially when she cried because of something he did.

Nodding, Booth stepped out of her way and sighed, rubbing his cheek again. For such a small woman, she packed one hell of a punch. He watched as she walked towards a cab, opened the door, and got in without ever looking back. As his hands fell to his sides, he looked up towards the sky, noticing the darkening clouds. "I _really_ need your help…" he spoke to any god, deity, or spirit that would listen. Turning his head back towards the restaurant, he saw the five squints staring out of the window at what just happened.

He shook his head, and began walking down the sidewalk. As he passed the front doors of the place, Angela bolted out, her eyes as big as saucers. "Booth…" she said, not knowing what else to say.

"Ange, don't…" he told her. "Don't try to make me feel better. I brought this on myself."

She shook her head. "I know you brought it on yourself. And in the divorce, you _know_ I chose Brennan. But, I'm still pulling for you, Booth."

"I know…" he said solemnly and took another step passed the restaurant.

"I talked to her today…" Angela admitted, stopping the strong FBI agent in his place. "I told her that you deserve another chance. And I reminded her of how happy you made her." Booth nodded slowly, thinking about how much of a nonexistent chance he had with betting Bones back. "Just give her time, sweetie. She'll come around. I know Brennan's emotions and how they work."

"More like how they _don't_ work," booth quipped with an eye roll.

Angela shook her head. "She loves you, Booth. You know that. I know that. And _she_ knows that. And _that_ is what scares her the most." Reaching up, she pulled his chin towards her to look him in the eyes. "Give her time, Booth. And know that I'm working on explaining this type of human pain to her."

He nodded. "Goodnight, Ange. Sorry for breaking up your dinner party."

"Seeley," she called out after he was a couple steps away. "Trust me on this." He nodded again, threw a hand in the air as a signal that he understood, and went along his way…his said, pathetic, depressed way.

* * *

Within half an hour, Brennan was changed into sweatpants and big tshirt with a glass of wine as she sat on her couch. She stared out the living room window across the city's lights as lightning began to strike in the distance. Jumping when she heard a knock at the door, her heart dropped to her knees. "Sweetie, it's me. Open up," Angela's voice rang out.

Taking a deep breath of relief, Brennan walked to the door and opened it. As the door swung open, Angela kindly smiled at her. "Come on in, Ange," Brennan said as she motioned inside the apartment.

As Brennan shut the door behind her, Angela sat down on the couch, followed by Brennan following suit. After a couple of minutes of silence and watching her best friend, Angela decided to speak up. "About what happened…" she started.

"Angela, I don't want to talk about it," Brennan replied quickly and bluntly as she pulled her knees up to her chest, tears building up yet again.

"Sweetie…everything is going to be okay. You know that, right?"

Brennan sniffled and nodded. "Of course I know that. The world doesn't stop just because someone is viewing things irrationally."

"You think you're viewing things irrationally?"

Sitting her wine glass back onto the coaster, Brennan said "Of course I am. There is no reason to act this…this dysfunctional…an entire year after a friendship is severed."

"Bren…don't you think that you and Booth had a little more than a friendship?"

She shook her head. "No. We had a platonic relationship, which is a friendship. The next relationship level, as I've studied anthropologically, is a committed, dedicated relationship that includes such bogus feelings as passion, trust, and love."

Angela smirked. "You are so smart, it's not good."

"Actually, my intelligence is very benefic-"

"Sweetie…" the smiling friend interrupted. "We're talking about having emotions, feelings, sensations, those types of things. Brennan…passion, trust, and love are all real. They're very, very real."

"Even though there have been many studies done to try and validate the assumption that one can measure emotions, it's just a bunch of nonsense," Brennan said with a choke in her voice.

"Bren…listen to me…" Angela pleaded. "Yes…passion, trust, and love are generally what you find in a committed, dedicated relationship between two people. But they're also found in between the official stages of relationships. Before everything happened…that look you got on your face whenever Booth walked into the room, that's passion. The spark that lit up when you two looked at each other, that's passion. The feeling that you got every time your nerves were on edge in a dangerous situation as Booth protected you, that's trust. You _knew_ that he would always be there. Maybe not scientifically, but inside your Brennan-heart, you _knew,_" Angela said as she pointed to her best friend's chest.

"And sweetie…the reason you're hurting so much right now…and for the past year…is because you _love_ him. If it was strictly a platonic relationship, this pain wouldn't be here. That feeling that you get when your stomach does flips, the hair on the back of your neck stands up, and your heart flutters every time a thought about Booth crosses your mind…THAT…that right there…is love." Tears rolled down Brennan's cheek as Angela smiled sympathetically at her.

"Love is real, Bren. It's what you feel for me, Hodgins, Cam, your family, Parker, even Sweets. It's something that cannot be forgotten, no matter how many drinks you've had or how many skeletons you identified in nine months. There's no point in _emotional_ living if you don't love someone, sweetie. And yes, it's terrifying and horrific, but it's completely and totally worth every bit of emotion that comes from it. He's your guy, sweetie. He's your guy."

By this time, Brennan was starting to sob heavily. Angela leaned over and pulled her best friend into a giant hug, squeezing her tight. Brennan sobbed into Angela's shoulder as every emotion imaginable rushed through her. "It hurts so bad," she cried. "But there's no pain…"

"I know, sweetie…" Angela comforted the crying scientist in her arms. "You're going to make it through this, Bren. You're strong, amazingly beautiful, intelligent…and believe it or not…lovable." Angela ran her hands across Brennan's hair, trying to calm her down. "Shh…sweetie…"

"It hurts…so, so bad, Ange," she sobbed again.

"I know…shh…." She felt Brennan shaking. "But I'm going to make sure you and Booth figure this out. I promise."

Brennan nodded, continuing to cry, and realized exactly how _real_ the pain actually was.


	2. A Thousand Apologies

****Even though I was hoping for more reviews/comments, I suppose I will forgive yall due to all of the story alerts and favorites that I received ;) I REALLY would love to get more comments on this chapter...ideas for future chapters, thoughts, opinions, suggestions, anything :) **

**Oh yeah, I don't own them or anything Bones related. If I did, I can assure you that Booth and Bones would be doing it already :D ****

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"Another one, Sam," Booth told the bartender as he slammed his shot glass down. His cheek was darkening by the minute from where she had punched him. The bartender poured the tequila into the petite glass and sighed. He had seen this all too many times before.

As Booth flicked his gold lighter, his head drooped lower and lower. How could he have been so _stupid _and inconsiderate? Right after Hannah had completely dashed his hopes of marrying her, the typically strong FBI agent broke down. Completely, one-hundred percent, broke down. He shut every door to the outside, including the most important one – _Bones_.

Booth momentarily jerked out of his daze when someone patted his shoulder. "Agent Booth," Sweets greeted and sat at the stool beside him.

"Hey, Sweets," Booth replied reluctantly.

Leaning against the bar, Sweets could see the pain radiating off of the man next to him. "About earlier…" he started.

"Look, Sweets. I don't want to talk about it, okay? I've had enough shit for one day. I don't need psychobabble crap added with it." Booth poured the tequila down his throat and slammed the shot glass back down on the bar.

"Okay…" the psychologist replied simply. After a few moments of silence, Booth laid his head over on his arms which were resting on the bar.

"How could this have happened…" he groaned into his sleeve. "I mean, I know it's all my fault, but how could I have done all of that to Bones?" he asked and sat back up, tapping at the shot glass in front of him. Sam, yet again, filled it with the liquid toxin. Booth threw the liquid to the back of his throat, wincing when it finally hit his taste-buds.

"Are you talking about when Hannah ended your relationship?" Sweets asked as he picked a pretzel out of the bowl next to him.

Booth sighed. "That and what happened after that." He went back to flicking the lighter that was tossing between his hands.

"I guess I'm a little confused, Agent Booth. I thought that after the breakup, you quit your job to take some personal time," Sweets said as he turned more towards Booth.

With a chuckle, Booth shook his head. "I _wish_ that was all that happened. I wouldn't be here now if that's all that went down."

"Do you want to talk about it?" The young psychologist was truly interested in what happened. After all, he had been trying to get them together for years.

"Not tonight, Sweets," Booth said and stepped down from the bar stool that had kept him company for a couple hours. "Right now, I need to go think about some things. And put ice on my face," added with an eye roll.

"Okay, Agent Booth. You know where to find me if you need any consultation." Booth threw a hand in the air acknowledging that he heard the good doctor and walked out of the bar. As he stepped out from under the awning, Booth felt the rain pour across his skin, but he didn't care.

He slowly walked, kicking one foot out in front of the other, with his hands in his pockets as he became drenched in the cold rain. A smile spread across his face as a memory flashed back to him. He remembered the first time than him and Bones had worked together. After he had "fired" her in the bar that night, they stepped out into the rain.

He couldn't help but remember what it was like to see her smiling, glowing even…even if it was just the tequila showing through that night. As she got into the cab, he knew that he would be seeing her again. He _knew_ that things with her were different than normal. Of course, he wanted to sleep with her as he had wanted with many other women. But he wanted _more_ with her.

As a car horn blared, Booth shook his head and snapped back into reality. Without really thinking about where the hell he was walking, he ended up in front of Bone's building. After taking a deep breath, he sat down on the step in front of the door. He _knew_ that she didn't want to see him…she had made that quite obvious. But the tequila was telling him otherwise.

Thunder rumbled in the sky as lightning danced across the ominous clouds. Booth remembered how Bones had once explained all the scientific aspects of thunderstorms. He also remembered that he didn't pay attention to a word she said…he was too focused on her smiling and lighting up as she talked about how relaxing they were to her. He missed her smile more than anything.

'_Go talk to her, idiot,' _he told himself. Two seconds later, he rebutted with, '_She doesn't want to see you or speak to you, you ass.'_ He battled back and forth with himself for what must have been at least half an hour. He tried to weigh out each possible outcome in his head, and none of the outcomes he thought about turned out good for him. Truly, most of them involved him being punched again.

"Booth?" he heard from behind him, turning around. He saw Angela with a worried look on her face.

He waved slightly. "Uh, hey, Ange," he said as the rain continued to hit his face.

"What the HELL are you doing out here?" she asked, opening her umbrella.

"Well…uh…I had a few drinks. And I just kind of got here," Booth said as he quickly ran his hand through his hair, pointlessly shaking out some of the water.

"How about you let me take you home, huh?" She pulled her keys out of her purse and hit the unlock button, making the lights flash on her vehicle parked by the sidewalk.

Booth shook his head. "I think I'm gonna go talk to Bones," he admitted.

"No, no, no, sweetie…" she disagreed. "I completely understand that you two need to figure this crap out, but you do NOT need to go up there in this shape," she told him as she pulled on one of his arms.

"Angela, I have to fix this…_now_..." he tugged back.

"Seeley, listen to me…I have been up there for TWO hours convincing her that love is real and that that is why she's hurting so bad right now. The LAST thing she needs is for you to show up there, drunk off your ass, and confessing your undying love for her." Angela opened the passenger door to her vehicle. "Now, GET IN!" she demanded. Booth unwillingly got into the vehicle and pulled the door shut.

As they arrived to his apartment, Booth sighed. "I'm sorry about all of this, Ange. And for getting your vehicle soaked," apologized with a frown.

"It's okay, sweetie. Now…go sober up. Given Brennan a chance to sort through things in her own time. I'm not saying to completely disappear…again…," she mumbled, "But don't push so hard. Just let her be Brennan."

He nodded and stepped out of the vehicle. "Thanks, Angela," he said as he shut the door behind himself. She nodded and waved as he walked towards the steps into his building. "You're just a fucking _moron_, Booth," he cursed himself as he fumbled with his key.

* * *

The next morning, Brennan woke up to the monotonous roar of her alarm clock across the room. She threw the sheet off of her warm body and sat up in the bed, slipping on her house shoes before she walked across the room. She _happily_ slapped the alarm clock as it read 6:24am. She groaned and stretched as she walked towards her bathroom.

Once she was in front of the mirror, she placed her hands on the sink and looked up to see the woman staring back at her. The person that she saw wasn't her usual self. The person in the mirror had red, tear-stained eyes, puffy from all the crying. "I've GOT to stop this crying business," she told herself, splashing cool water onto her fair complexion.

Across town, Booth groaned loudly as his alarm clock also rang annoyingly by his bed. Reaching over, he smacked his hand down on top of it, in the process, hitting the snooze button. He was absolutely dreading getting up…he knew that a _lovely_ hangover was going to greet him as soon as he was vertical.

Exactly 9 minutes later, the shrieking started again. "Fuck…" he grunted as he hit the off button and sighed. Slowly, he sat up with his hand shielding his eyes from the sun glaring into his windows. "This is going to be a fanfuckingtastic day," he declared. Standing up, the sheet fell from his boxer-clad body. After a long stretch, he trotted off to start his coffee pot and search for aspirin.

* * *

"Good morning, Dr. Brennan," Cam called out as she saw her best employee walking through the lab.

"Morning," she quietly groaned back. It most definitely was _not_ a good morning. Brennan had a splitting headache from all the crying that she had done the night previous. As she removed her coat and sat down at her desk, she noticed a small piece of paper folded neatly resting against her keyboard. Without giving it too much thought, she opened it up. What she saw inside made her stomach flip.

_ A thousand apologies couldn't explain how greatly sorry I am…_

_ -Booth_

"Oooh, Lord…" Brennan said as she took a deep breath, looking towards the ceiling to prevent crying yet again. Her whole body was shaking as she reread the note…and reread it…and reread it again…

"Bren?" Angela called from the doorway with a worried look on her face.

"Huh?" Brennan replied as she jumped, shaking her head and folding the paper back up.

"Uhh…you okay, sweetie?" Angela walked to the front of the large desk and leaned over, "examining" her best friend.

Brennan's mouth opened, but nothing came out at first. She slowly looked from the paper to Angela and shook her head again, snapping herself out of the emotions that were going on in her head. "Yeah, Ange. I'm fine."

"Typical Brennan answer," Angela smirked. "And as usual, it's a lie." Without another word, she reached over and took the paper that was clutched in her best friend's hand. Once she opened it, her eyes got big, then narrow again as she looked up towards Brennan.

"I….I don't know what this means," Brennan admitted. "And I would very much like your expertise on this personal situation."

Smirking again, Angela sighed. "Bren…He's trying to make up with you." Her brown eyes showed love and care for the genius sitting in front of her. She noticed the blank look on Brennan's face and placed her hand on top of the other woman's. "And I think you should let him, sweetie."

"I have no desire to –"

"Oh honey, there is all KINDS of desire, so don't even try to pull that card," Angela interrupted. "He _loves_ you, Bren. And he has for _years_. I understand that you're hurting and don't know exactly what is going on or how you really feel, but I really want you to think about reconsidering your position on letting him back into your life."

Brennan's slate-blue eyes were watery again as she slowly nodded. "I'll…take what you said into consideration." Angela smiled and shook her head.

"He's not going to hurt you again, you know…"

"You can't possibly know that, Angela," Brennan corrected.

As she walked towards the door, Angela chuckled. "Just trust me on this, Bren. It's a gut feeling," she yelled as she walked out the door.

"Those do NOT exist!" Brennan yelled back. "UGH!" she huffed as she turned back to her computer.

* * *

After a long day at work, Brennan looked up across the bones in front of her. Because of her expertise, another body from Limbo could now be sent back to his family in Louisiana for proper burial. He had been one of many victims of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005 when the deadly storm surged over New Orleans. Typically, Brennan worked with bodies that were hundreds and hundreds of years old, but the not-so-ancient bodies always put her more in perspective.

Looking at a picture of the man that was pulled from the missing persons report, she sighed. Although she knew very little about human emotions, she understood instantly how happy this man was before his untimely death. He was 34, close to the same age as both her and Booth, and he had a family – one that loved him dearly.

Attached to the same file was a picture of three small children sitting on the man's lap. All four people on the 5 by 7 piece of photo paper seemed to be laughing hysterically – something Brennan had not partaken in since her friendship with Booth was severed. He always knew how to make her smile and laugh, no matter what.

Once she had secured the bones back into the container and placed it where the "solved" bodies go, she snapped off her latex gloves and headed back to her office. Noticing it was already 6:30, she decided that for once, she wasn't going to stay at work all night. Gathering her coat and purse, Brennan turned the light out in her office and shut the door.

As she left the lab and walked down the hall, she saw a man sitting on one of the benches along the side of the hallway. Her heels smacking against the tile floor made him look towards her, but he immediately hung his head back down. She cocked an eyebrow towards the shadowy figure as she walked, not knowing who the person was, but as she got closer, she made the connection.

She saw the man, in a black suit, sitting solemnly with his elbows pressed against his knees and his hands holding his forehead. Her heart was racing as she became closer, but…according to Angela…she needed to forgive him. With her stomach doing flips and her heart flittering around in her chest – metaphorically, of course – she stopped walking a few feet from the man.

Noticing the shoes weren't making any more noise, Booth looked up slowly, keeping his eyes on the ground in front of him. Her heart wasn't the only one that was going to explode.

Brennan opened her mouth, but nothing came out as she gazed her eyes upon the very pathetic-looking man – the man that she had known to be all happy-go-lucky…whatever the hell that meant…and cocky. "I…" she started, her voice shaking, "I can't trust you…" she finally got out with a small voice.

"I know," he replied. "I understand that."

"Then, what do you want?" she asked, her arms crossing in front of her.

Looking up at her, she could see his eyes were watery. "I want you to give me a chance," he took a deep breath. "A chance to show you that the _real_ Booth is back." She was silent. Booth stood up and walked to the railing that was across from him and turned to look at Brennan.

Looking down into her blue eyes, which were starting to get watery…_again_…he sighed. "I can't even begin to tell you how so _very_ sorry I am for this, Temperance. A year ago…I was hurt. Badly. And I know that's not an excuse to treat you the way that I did…but it's the truth."

Brennan looked down at the floor, knowing that if she looked at him much longer, she'd be bawling again.

"You deserve so much more than someone walking out on you, and I failed you at that. But I want another chance. Just _one_ more chance to show you that not all people are the same," he ended in a whisper as he gently lifted her chin up with his hand.

"I don't know if I can do that, Booth…" she said with a catch in her throat, her eyes piercing his. She had never been afraid of anything…except for losing Booth like she had lost everybody else in her life. She felt safe with him, secure even.

"Bones…" Booth said as he reached down and gently took her hand in his, still staring into her eyes. "If you still have even the tiniest bit of trust left in me…I'm asking you to trust me on this. If I screw up _anything_, that's it for me. But just give me _one more chance…_"

A tear ran down her cheek as he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. She looked down at their connected hands and shook her head. "I don't know," she answered, pulling her hand back from his. "I'm sorry," she said as she looked up at him with tears on her cheeks as she took a few steps away from him.

"Temperance…" he called out before she got too far away. She stopped and looked back at him, her stomach doing aerobics in her abdomen. "I love you." His words were as clear and articulated as the edge of a beautiful diamond. Her crying increased as she stared back at him, followed by her once again turning away and quickly walking out of the Jeffersonian.


	3. What Did You Do, Booth?

****Even though I haven't gotten as many reviews as I wanted :( I've decided to go ahead and update. This week is going to be crazy hectic (3 tests and a paper in 2 days), so I probably won't have time to work on the story for a few days. But regardless, I hope yall enjoy :) **

**Brennan is pissed, Booth is apologetic, how does it work out? :) Hmm...**

**Don't own them :( ****

**UPDATE: A couple of people have asked, no...Brennan and Booth were not married. I was just meaning that when their friendship was severed, Angela took Brennan's side of things. I thought about making them previously married, but it just didn't fit into where I want to go with the story. :)  
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"He loves me…" Brennan repeated to herself on her drive home, tears running down her face. "He loves me? No…he can't love me…he's an untrustworthy bastard…" She rounded a corner almost a little too sharp. "I can't trust him!" she yelled, banging her fist against the steering wheel. "And why the HELL am I talking to myself?"

As she pulled into her parking garage and turned the engine of her Prius off, Brennan sank back in her driver's seat. She took five deep breaths, wiping the tears from her cheeks at the same time, and hit her steering wheel again. "That's ENOUGH," she demanded as she grabbed her laptop bag and stepped out of the car.

Marching into the building, Brennan rode the elevator to her floor, and then proceeded to march all the way down the hall to her door – her shoes clanking the entire way. Once she shut the door behind herself, she carefully sat her laptop bag on the counter and slid her coat off. She sighed loudly, though no one could hear, and retreated to her bedroom to change clothes.

After returning to her entry way to get her laptop, she saw a folded piece of paper in the middle of the counter. She couldn't decide if she was nervous, scared, or just plain pissed. She grasped the paper and nearly ripped it as she opened it. In the middle of the page, she saw the same handwriting as earlier.

_I really do love you, Bones. _

_- Booth_

"UGH!" she groaned, needing an immediate plan of action. "I've got it…" she declared as she ran back to her bedroom, threw on a pair of warm boots and a sweatshirt – her flannel pajama pants and tank top still on, grabbed her purse, and left her apartment.

* * *

Booth, sitting on his couch, was flipping through a magazine. He wasn't paying attention to _anything_ on the pages, all he could think about was her. The way she looked earlier that night – eyes red, hair messy, cheeks flushed. He also noticed her entire body was shaking. "That's not the Bones I know…" he whispered to nobody.

After hearing a car door slam, Booth shook his head. He tossed the magazine down onto his coffee table and stood up to head to his bedroom. Without any more time passing, his front door flew open. "What the hell…" he asked, looking around the corner. As he saw the person rushing after him, his eyes got wide as he asked "Bones?"

"QUIT BREAKING IN TO MY FUCKING APARTMENT AND OFFICE!" she screamed, shoving his chest. "I'm so fucking TIRED of you thinking you can get away with anything that you fucking want to!" She pushed him again, her entire face infuriated.

"But…" he started to say.

"BUT NOTHING! You may have manipulated me a year ago, but not anymore, jackass," she told him through clenched teeth as she pushed the crumpled piece of paper into his chest. She glared at him one last time and spun around to walk out of the door.

He looked down at the wadded letter clutched in his hand. "You think I'm trying to manipulate you?" he asked, still in complete shock of what the hell was going on.

"Yes! That is EXACTLY what you're doing!" she yelled, spinning around again and heading back towards him. "And I'm not taking it anymore, GODDAMMIT!" The tears were back, this time out of both fear and frustration, as she took another step towards the door.

"Bones…" he said and reached out to grab her wrist. Yet again, Brennan spun around, this time slapping her hand across his face. She looked down at his hand still on her wrist, not letting go.

"LET GO OF ME!" She struggled against his strength, her teeth still clenched tight.

"Temperance…" he whispered and pulled her closer to him, her fighting every inch of the way.

She bawled as she nearly admitted defeat. "Just stop, Booth…" she begged, her voice going from loud to in pain. "Stop…" she asked again as he pulled her into his chest while she tried to squirm free of his grip.

After fighting him for a few more seconds, she eventually gave in to his embrace. Her sobs vibrated his chest as he stroked her hair, holding her tight. "Shh…" he hushed her, not entirely sure of what all just happened.

"How could you fucking do that to me?" she yelled into his chest, pushing away from him and hitting his chest. "How could you treat me like that?"

He kept his arms around her, pulling her back into him. "I'm so sorry, Tempe…I'm so sorry…" his voice caught in his throat as the tears even built up in his eyes. Brennan, still sobbing into his chest, had never broken down like this in the history of her life.

Instead of pushing her too early, Booth stood in his house's entry way simply holding the woman that he loved in his arms. Her body shook against his, but eventually began to subside along with her cries. "Tempe…" he whispered as he kissed the top of her head, inhaling the floral smell of her hair. God, he had missed the smell of her hair.

"What?" her small voice eventually asked back.

"Can we sit down and talk?" Booth looked down as Brennan looked up, still embraced by his arms. She nodded slowly and backed out of his arms as they both walked to his couch.

Booth sat on one end of the couch and pulled Brennan to him as sat next to him. She willingly fell into his arms and brought her knees up to her chest. He looked down into her clear blue eyes that met him halfway. The awkward silence was eventually broken by Booth.

"I wish I could show you how sorry I am and make you understand that I have hated myself for what I did since it happened…" he stared into her eyes and reached up his hand to brush away some of the tears. "And I want more than anything to be able to show you that I will _never_ do that again."

"How? How the hell are you going to show me that?" she replied, narrowing her eyes.

"Let me show you that this…" he said motioning between the two, "that _love_ is real," he whispered as he took her hand and placed it on his chest.

She took a deep breath. "I can't be hurt again…" she admitted. "I don't know the first thing about human emotions, but I do know that I cannot handle going through that again."

"I won't hurt you again, Tempe…"

"You can't possi – "

"Yes…yes I can know that," he interrupted her. "And I _do_ know that. And I will show you every day for the rest of my life that I can keep that promise."

Brennan was quiet as the tears started welling back up in her eyes. She reached up and brushed the first one away, noticing her body shaking again. "Tempe…I _swear_ to you, that if you give me one last chance, I'll make things right…" he nearly pleaded.

Crumpling under the pain, Brennan collapsed back into Booth's chest and cried. "Bones…" he whispered, lifting her chin up towards his face. Her eyes opened, revealing how red they were becoming. "I know you're a scientist, so you're trying to think of a scientific answer to this. But this time…just this once…don't think with your head…"

"That is the only way to think," she corrected him.

He shook his head. "No, Tempe. This time…think with your heart. Think with your emotions and your love…and even your fear…" he whispered. "And you don't have to give me an answer right this very second, or even in the next day or week. Just promise me you'll think about it."

Brennan nodded slowly and rested her head back on Booth's chest. For once in the past year, even with all the pain going on, she felt safe. It was the strangest emotion for her…to feel so hurt and torn by this person, but this person being the _only_ one that she felt secure with.

* * *

_One Year Previous_

"Bones, just find the damn cause of death," Booth snapped in front of everybody in the lab.

"What exactly do you think I'm doing, Booth?" she quipped back as she leaned over the body on the examining table.

Daisy Wicks leaned over part of the mangled ribs, observing every line, crease, scratch, and dip in the bone. "Dr. Brennan… I think I found something…" she announced, her eyes widening.

"What is it, Miss Wicks?" Brennan asked and moved to where Daisy was looking.

"On the C5 and C6, there are cracks…radiating away from a central location."

Brennan pulled over one of their digital viewers and zoomed in on the splits in the bones. She looked up on the screen and nodded. "There it is," she said and pointed. "Cause of death, stab to the heart. Good job, Miss Wicks," she admitted and pulled off her gloves. Daisy beamed a smile across the room to Lance Sweets. He grinned back, quickly turning his head to Booth.

"Finally," Booth huffed, shoved his notebook into his pocket, and left the platform. Cam watched as he walked towards the doors, followed by making eye contact with Sweets. Everybody in the room had the same surprised look on their face.

Brennan tossed her gloves into the trashcan and turned back towards the group. "Daisy, help Dr. Saroyan de-flesh the bones, please. Hodgins…"

"Find particulates, got it…" he finished. She nodded and left the platform, following the direction Booth went.

She eventually caught up to him as he exited the Jeffersonian entrance doors. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked him, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

He turned around with a smirk on his face. "What's _wrong_ with me?" he chuckled. "I'll tell you what's wrong with me, Dr. Brennan. You and your squints are the slowest people on _earth_. Cam thinks she's God, Hodgins is a paranoid psychotic nitwit, Angela is as flaky as they come, your ignorant squiterns don't know how to do _jackshit_ right, and you…ha, I won't even get started with _you_," he finished as he covered his eyes with his sunglasses.

"What exactly do you mean, what's wrong with _me_? There is _nothing_ wrong with me, Booth." Her hands moved to her waist.

"See? THAT. THAT is what's wrong with you, Dr. Brennan. You think you're fucking _perfect_. Yeah, well guess what. You're as flawed as they come, sweetheart." Brennan's heart began to race. "You're so shallow and have built up this wall that nobody can fucking get through! You're so arrogant and coldhearted that it's no fucking _wonder_ everybody has walked out on you." He started walking away. "Oh yeah, I done with this shit. Another agent will be sent to finish this fucking case," he added with a hand thrown up in the air. Brennan's heart dropped to her knees as she wondered if everything had really just happened.

It took a great part of the year for Brennan to comprehend what exactly Booth had said, but when she figured it out, she was so crushed that it was hard for her to move.

* * *

_Present Day_

Booth pulled Brennan closer to him as they sat in silence. She had finally quit crying, for the most part, and he felt her body relaxing more. "Tempe…" he spoke softly.

She looked up with fear in her eyes. "What?"

Brushing his thumb across her cheek, his eyes narrowed. "I should never have said those things…that day, I was just so…furious with everything. You…" he said with a catch in his throat, "you were the person that I was closest to and you got the brunt of the anger. And I am _so_ sorry…"

"Okay," she whispered back, her eyes still staring into his.

"Will you ever be able to forgive me?" He was terrified of the answer he figured he would get.

"I think…I think it's going to take a while," she admitted.

Booth nodded with care in his eyes. "I'm here, Tempe. I'm not going anywhere."

Brennan remembered what Angela had told her the day before. '_You can either forgive and forget, or hold a grudge for the rest of your human life.' _She took a deep breath. "Angela said that…that I'm so scared right now…because I _care_ about you…" she admitted. Booth listened, letting her say what she wanted to. "Booth…I never believed in human emotions until I met you. And I let you get closer to me than anybody else in this world..." She took a deep breath and looked up at him again. "I _want_ to trust you again, Booth. I _want_ to care. You're just going to have to give me time…"

She was being more emotionally logical than he had ever heard her be. "Sweetheart, I will give you all the time in the world that you need to make this decision." Before too much time past, Booth took a deep breath. "Tempe…"

"Hmm?" she asked as she tilted her head up towards his face.

He smiled down at her, eyes full of love and concern, as he brushed a strand of auburn hair behind her ear. "I really do love you."

A small smile left her lips. "I know," she replied quietly, still looking into his chocolate brown eyes. Laying her head back down against his chest, Brennan settled into his side yet again. She didn't understand why she felt so safe with Booth. She didn't _want_ to leave, but she knew she had to. "Booth…"

"Yeah?" he asked, rubbing her back as he looked down at her again.

"I need to go. I have work tomorrow," she sighed and sat up.

He nodded. "Okay." The two got off of the couch and walked towards the front door. "I've got a surprise for you tomorrow," he said with a Booth-grin on his face.

She raised an eyebrow at him as she slipped her boots back on. "What did you do, Booth?" she asked, standing up with her hands on her hips.

Booth chuckled and walked closer to her. "You'll like it. Well…" he recanted. "I hope you'll like it." Brennan picked her keys up off of the small table by the door and softly smiled back at him. Without another word spoken, Brennan suddenly wrapped her arms around Booth's neck.

He pulled his arms around her waist and took a deep breath, inhaling her smell again. "Bye, Booth," she told him as she kissed his cheek, let him out of her arms, and slowly walked to the door.

"Goodnight, Temperance." Giving him one last smile before she left, Brennan shut the door behind herself.

Booth walked back to the couch and sank down into his same spot as before. "What the _hell_ just happened?" he asked himself, running a hand through his hair. "I think Temperance Brennan has a human side…" Shaking his head quickly, Booth stood up and walked to the window to see her drive away. His heard was beating abnormally just _thinking_ about him being to love her out in the open.


	4. Who's a Liar?

****Hey guys! I'm aliiiive! I survived my tests and papers, so I'm back to writing :) This chapter is about the "surprise" Booth has for Brennan. And after a long day, one shocking question. We're getting to all the mushy-gushy stuff, so just stick with me! :) Oh yeah, I LOOOOVE all the reviews/favorites/alerts that I've gotten! They've made me smile mucho :)**

**Yeah, I don't own them. Sad day.****

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The next morning, Brennan woke up rested and ready to go. Stretching as she got out of her bed, she glanced across the room and saw a picture of her and Booth. She smiled – God, how amazing it was to smile again! – and got ready for work.

Once she had arrived at the Jeffersonian, she noticed it was 7:00am on the dot. She knew she didn't have to be there until 8, but she wanted to get started on her work before all of the others got there. Unlocking her office door, she heard a noise, causing her to turn around. She saw Angela across the lab with a _wonderful_ look on her face as she drug behind Hogins.

"Hey, Ange," she said as she pushed her door open. Angela groaned as she opened her own office door, causing Brennan to chuckle. "Why are you here so early?" Brennan asked her best friend as she sat at her desk.

Angela plopped down on Brennan's couch. "Hodgins had to finish some work that he didn't get to yesterday."

"What work?" Brennan powered on her computer as she took a drink of her coffee.

"Something to do with mold and rats," Angela said with a shudder. "Why are _you_ so happy this morning?" she asked, throwing a grimace across the room.

Brennan let a small smile escape her lips. "No reason," she tried to cover up. Angela sat forward on the couch, now paying full attention to the blushing scientist.

"_You_ forgave him, didn't you?"

Shaking her head, Brennan sat her cup of coffee back down. "I don't know what you're talking about, Ange," she said nonchalantly as she looked towards her computer. Within a few seconds, Angela had bolted across the room and spun Brennan's chair around. "What the hell, Angela?"

"Tell. Me. _Everything,_" she instructed.

Trying to conceal her newfound happiness, Brennan shrugged. "Nothing happened."

"LIAR!" Angela yelled, smiling with her eyes wide.

"Who's a liar?" Cam asked, knocking on Brennan's door.

"Oh…nobody, Dr. Saroyan," Brennan replied. Cam raised an eyebrow at the two women across the room as Brennan turned her chair back towards her computer.

"Whatever it is, I'll find out eventually," she sang out as she walked away from the door.

Spinning Brennan's chair back towards her, Angela gripped both armrests. "Temperance Daesee Brennan. I am sleep deprived, hungry, and moody…tell me right now what happened last night or I'll go ask _him_."

Brennan's eyes got wide. "Okay, okay…" She really didn't need Booth to be exaggerating anything. "That letter on my desk yesterday?" she mentioned.

"Yeah…"

"Well, there was one in my apartment last night when I arrived home." Angela's eyes got even wider. "Well, I became furious with Booth. So I went over to his apartment." Brennan took a deep breath. "As I was confronting him about breaking into my apartment and office, he…he pulled me into his chest and held me," she said with a softer voice.

Angela let out a slight squeal, causing Brennan to narrow her eyes.

"He apologized…many, _many_ times…and told me-"

"Told you what?" a man's voice interrupted. Both women looked up and saw Booth.

"Hey, _Booth_," Angela said with a smirk as she arose from the kneeling position in front of Brennan.

Brennan's jaw dropped slightly. "Wha…what are you doing here, Booth?" she finally asked.

"Remember I told you I had a surprise for you today?" he asked as he walked to the front side of her desk. Brennan nodded as Angela turned her head towards Booth with a raised eyebrow. "Well…here I am!" he announced.

"I don't understand..." Brennan said.

Chuckling, Angela shook her head. "It means that you two are partners again, sweetie."

"What? You can't decide that…" the anthropologist tried to argue.

"No, but I can," Cam informed her, peeping into the office again.

"Dr. Saroyan!" Brennan objected.

Booth tried not to laugh as Cam smiled. "Dr. Brennan, working with the FBI is an extremely prestigious honor, and we will take any cases that they offer." Brennan's jaw dropped.

"That's right, Bones!" Booth said as he clapped his hands together. Angela was cackling inside at all that was unfolding before her eyes. "That means we have a case. So…let's go…" he urged, motioning towards the door.

"No! Absolutely not! I am a world-renowned anthropologist!" Brennan stood up and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I will _not_ be told who I will and who I will not work with!"

* * *

"I take it you don't really like your surprise?" Booth asked, driving through Washington, D.C. Brennan looked across the SUV at him through her sunglasses.

"It's not that, Booth…" she tried to justify her actions. "I just wish Cam would consult me on these big changes."

Booth glanced over at her as they pulled to a stop at a stoplight. "Are you sure that's all, Bones?" he asked.

She looked over and let a smile slip out. "I'm…just kind of nervous that we won't be professional after last night."

"Hey," he told her and pulled his sunglasses down. "We will act as professionally as we did a year ago. We can talk more about last night after work." He noticed as her body became stiff. "If you want to, that is."

"Let's just talk about this later," she insisted. He nodded and pressed on the gas pedal.

* * *

"So, what do we have, Bones?" Booth asked, pulling his notebook out of his pocket.

Brennan, decked out in her blue jumpsuit, hunched over the mangled remains lying under a tree. "Male," she said, lifting the tarp that was over the body. "Late twenties, early thirties…180 to 185 centimeters tall…African American." Booth looked over at Hodgins.

"Between 5'11" and 6'1"," Hodgins answered, pulling out culture dishes from his bag. Booth nodded and jotted it down in his notebook. "From the insect larvae, he's been here two to four weeks."

Brennan stood up, squinting her eyes as she glanced around the tree. "He wasn't killed here," she observed.

"Where was he murdered then?" Booth asked, curious as to how she got to her answer.

"There is red clay on the back of the body, and there isn't any around here," she told him, pointing at the back of the victim's shirt. Booth nodded.

"That all for now, Bones?" he asked. Brennan nodded and pulled her gloves off. "Everything goes back to the lab!" he announced to the crew.

* * *

Once the partners were back in D.C. in the Jeffersonian parking garage, Booth turned the SUV engine off. Brennan gazed down at her hands as Booth glanced at her. "You okay, Tempe?" he asked softly.

She looked up and smiled. "Yeah. Just thinking," she told him and opened her door. He followed suit, sliding out of the vehicle and meeting her behind it.

"Mind if I ask what you're thinking about?"

She looked up at him and opened her mouth, except nothing came out. She smiled, took a deep breath, and tried it again. "Honest answer?" she asked. He nodded, getting slightly closer to her. Without warning, Brennan reached over and wrapped her arms around his waist.

As naturally as it was, Booth put his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into him. "I'm thinking about _you_," she spoke softly, almost too soft for him to hear her. He still wasn't sure who this Temperance Brennan was and what she had done with the old Bones.

He ran a hand across her back as she sighed into his chest. "I hope that's a good thing," he whispered back, more of a thought to himself than a statement to her.

Looking up at him with her clear blue eyes, Brennan smiled. "It is." Booth's heart fluttered as she smiled again and backed away from him. "Let's go finish this case so we can leave," she told him and straightened her jacket.

"Yes, mam…" he agreed and followed her to the elevator. "Hey, Bones…" he called out in the elevator.

"Hmm?" she asked and looked up at him.

"Can I…um…would you like to do something this weekend?" he asked. His heart raced as his palms became sweaty.

Smiling, Brennan nodded. "I'd like that, Booth." He didn't remember her ever being so compliant with ideas. It was new, different, weird even…but he liked it.

* * *

"Okay, what do we have Mr. Edison?" Brennan asked, stepping onto the platform and pulling on a pair of latex gloves.

Clark, one of her favorite interns, looked over the body with the magnifying lens hooked to the computer monitor. "Multiple fractions, but none of them are cause of death." Brennan nodded as she agreed with his statement. "There are several indentations on the left temporal bone, but I'm not sure what they are from."

Brennan pulled the machine over the skull and examined it closer. As she looked across the dents, Booth leaned against the railing waiting for an answer.

Angela stood next to Cam with a smirk across her face as she glanced from Booth to Brennan and back again. "I can't believe they're finally back together," she whispered to Cam.

"I know!" Cam agreed. "It took some major doings."

"Maybe they'll finally-" Angela was interrupted.

"We can _hear_ you," Brennan informed her, not looking up from the body. Angela chuckled with Cam as Booth shook his head. Clark rolled his eyes, trying to focus on Dr. Brennan's methods. "They aren't birth defects," she decided. "It looks more like…spikes." Standing up straight, Brennan cocked her head to the side. "Definitely cause of death," she concluded.

"Great. Now who is he?" Booth asked.

"Angela, can you reconstruct the face?" Brennan asked.

"Sure thing, boss," Angela agreed, earning several strange looks. She chuckled and went about her business.

"Hodgins, see if you can find any particulates off of the clothing," Brennan instructed.

"On it," Hodgins said as he started to carefully remove the clothing.

Brennan headed towards the exit of the platform before she stopped. "Clark…"

"Help Dr. Saroyan de-flesh the bones," he finished.

"Call me if you find anything," she finished as Booth followed her off of the platform and into her office.

* * *

Before much time passed, Brennan's office phone beeped. "Yeah…" she called out as she clicked away on her computer.

"Got a face," Angela told her on speakerphone.

"We'll be right there, Ange." Walking into Angela's office, they saw the artist with a confused look on her face. "What is it?" Brennan asked.

Book took a look at the face on the screen and stopped. "He looks familiar," Angela said as she turned her head to the side.

"That's not…it can't be…" Booth added.

"Does somebody want to fill me in?" Brennan asked.

"Joseph Wilkerson…" Booth acknowledged.

"That's not…that's the Homerun King, isn't it?" Angela asked.

"I don't know what that means…" Brennan said with a strange look on her face.

Booth couldn't take his eyes off of the digital image. "Oh MAN!" he groaned. "He was predicted to beat his record from last year this season!" Booth turned and looked at Brennan with a confused look plastered on her face. "He's a baseball player, Bones. One of the greatest of our time."

"Oh…" she said, still not necessarily getting the importance. "We need dental records-" she started to say.

"Got 'em," Cam announced, handing a folder to Brennan as she walked into Angela's office. "Just matched on the database."

"Joseph Cole Wilkerson," Brennan read off the chart. "Twenty-nine, 6 feet 1 inch, African American. I concur that this is a match."

Booth sank down on Angela's couch. "Wow…" he couldn't get over the shock.

Joining the rest of the crew, Hodgins came into his wife's office, an immediate look of shock covering his face. "What…No…NO…." he said, running a hand through his hair. "MAN!"

"This guy was the greatest player since Babe Ruth!" Booth exclaimed, putting his face in his hands.

"Dammit! What are the Pirates going to do now?" Hodgins asked, slumping down on the other end of the couch.

"I don't understand what baseball has to do with pirates," Brenna said, looking across the room of upset faces. Angela smirked and shook her head.

"Pittsburg Pirates, Bones. It's the team he was on," Booth told her. Her mouth made an "oh" as she grimaced, as she started to understand that this was something important to him, and apparently several other people.

Clark walked into Angela's office, immediately groaning. "It can't be him…why was he in D.C.?"

"No clue," Booth shrugged.

"We have obviously established that the victim is Joseph Wilkerson, the famous baseball player," Brennan announced. "Now we need to find out who, why, and how," she added.

"I think I know the how-part," Angela piped up across the room. The group of people turned to look at her, not expecting her to know much about baseball. "What?" she asked defensively. "Look…" she said and pointed to the screen. "Cleats…" A digital representation of the murder was acted out on the screen with a person wearing cleats stomping on the victim's head.

"Yeah, that'll do it…" Cam said as she flinched.

"Okay, we still need to find where. Hodgins, go take care of your dirt thing. Clark, help him," Booth delegated. "Bones and I need to go talk to his teammates."

"Aren't they all in Pennsylvania?" Cam asked.

"Road trip, Bones. Let's go." Booth hopped up and left the room, Brennan right behind him.

* * *

After four hours on the road, Brennan yawned. "So who are we talking to?" she asked as Booth parked his SUV on the side of the small road.

"The wife," Booth replied, killing the engine. "Listen, Bones. Since we've been out of the game for so long," he told her as he pulled his sunglasses off of his face, "Let me do the talking?"

Giving him a strange look, Brennan nodded. "Sure," she reluctantly agreed.

As they approached the door, Booth straightened his tie and took one last look at Brennan, who stood impatiently at the door, before he rang the doorbell. The "talking to people" thing was definitely not her forte. Booth chuckled as he noticed her fidgeting with the dolphin ring on her hand.

Before much time had passed, the door opened, revealing a petite, African American woman with puffy eyes. "Yes?" she asked, feebly.

"Mrs. Wilkerson?" Booth asked. "I'm Agent Booth, this is Dr. Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian…"

"Oh, God…" the lady gasped, her hands visually shaking. Brennan looked down at the small space of porch that stood between the widow and herself.

"Mrs. Wilkerson, we're sorry to have to inform you that your husband has been found murdered," Booth told her, trying to break the news gently. "And we need to ask you a few questions." The lady nodded, covering her mouth with a trembling hand.

"Of course, come in…" she motioned, stepping out of the way. Booth and Brennan entered the house, both gazing around as they stopped in the foyer.

"When was the last time you saw your husband, Mrs. Wilkerson?" Booth asked.

"Um…" she started, a tear falling down her cheek. "Three weeks ago…He left to go to spring training and never came back home." Brennan admired several vases that were carefully placed along the mantel.

Booth nodded. "Did your husband have any problems with anybody? Possibly on the team or family?"

The lady shook her head and sat on the arm of a couch in the den. "The only person that I could even think of possibly having a problem with Joe was Turner Hedden." She took a deep breath and looked back up at the tall FBI agent. "A month or two ago, Joe threatened to expose Turner for steroid usage."

"You know, steroids-" Brennan started before she saw Booth shaking his head at her. "Sorry," she mumbled and went back to observing the beautiful decorations.

"Did Mr. Wilkerson ever keep his threat? Tell a manager, coach, owner, anybody?"

Shaking her head again, the widow sighed. "No…I talked to him about it and he said that it wasn't his business to tell."

"Okay, Mrs. Wilkerson," Booth said with a sympathetic smile. "Thank you very much for your time…" he said, showing Brennan and himself to the door.

"Please let me know if you find the killer," the woman called from the den.

"Of course," Booth replied, giving a slight smile one last time before he left the house.

Brennan looked back at Booth as she walked to the vehicle. "Are we going to question Hedden Turner now?"

Booth smirked. "Turner Hedden, Bones. And yes."

* * *

"Brennan," she answered her phone as Booth began to drive.

"The body had ultisols and scales from micropterus dolomieu," Hodgins announced proudly over the speakerphone.

Booth rolled his eyes. "Fantastic. Now, what are those?"

"Red clay and scales from a small mouth bass."

"So…he was killed at a body of water?" Booth asked, swerving around a car.

"A pond, most likely. It was fresh water, and there aren't any lakes anywhere near where the body was found."

"Okay, thanks, Hodgins," Brennan said, hitting the end button.

Booth took a deep breath. "So we're looking for a guy that wears cleats and has possible access to a pond." Picking up his phone, he held it to his ear.

"Who are you calling?" Brennan asked.

"Stolts, it's Booth. I need a favor. I need you to look up any player on the Pittsburg Pirates that owns a pond. Yeah, you heard right. A pond." Booth slowed down at a stoplight suddenly, causing Brennan to grab onto the door handle. "Great, thanks." Snapping his phone shut, Booth smiled over at Brennan.

"What?"

"We got him," he announced.

She looked over at Booth with a raised eyebrow. "Who?"

"Hedden. He built a pond behind his house three months ago."

* * *

"That was an easy first-case-back," Booth declared as he entered Brennan's office behind her. "I wasn't expecting the bastard to confess that easily, to be honest."

"I've noticed that you get answers more quickly when you put someone in a lock-head," Brennan told him as she shut her computer down.

"It's called a headlock, Bones. And yeah, it's one method of getting things done," Booth smirked.

Looking up, Brennan smiled as she saw Booth looking down at the picture on her desk. "That was a good night," she told him. He looked up and smiled back at her.

"One of the best of my life," he admitted. Once Brennan had zipped her laptop case, she slid it on her shoulder and walked towards the door. "Let's go start our weekend, Bones," he told her and walked out of the door.

As she shut the door, Brennan walked silently next to Booth. "You okay?" he asked as they got to the elevator.

"Yeah," she said with a slight smile. As they exited the elevator and walked towards their vehicles on the parking deck, Brennan stopped as they were about to part ways. "Booth," she called out.

"Hmm?" He looked back towards her, his heart starting to speed up.

"Do you…um, want to come over for a drink or something?" she asked shyly.

With a grin on his face, Booth nodded. "Of course."


	5. The Forty Third Element

****Hey yall! :) I have finally had some free time, so I've been trying to catch up on my writing. I'm SUPER grateful for all of the alerts/favorites and reviews! They make me very happy...true story! Anyways...this chapter is probably my favorite so far. Brennan starts to let her guard down a little bit while Booth tries to assure her of a few things. Things may heat up a little bit next chapter...hmmm :)**

**Anyways, I don't own them :( Oh, how I wish I did though! **

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Walking up the steps to her apartment building, Brennan's heart raced. She _knew_ he was two or three feet behind her. She _knew_ that she couldn't turn back now. She also knew that she had to trust him again. After all, her life was in his hands when they were at work…and as independent as she liked to be, Brennan knew that he would protect her until the day one of them died.

She shook her head quickly a few times as she stopped at the elevator. She had to quit thinking such thoughts. Booth took a few steps after she had stopped, eventually reaching her side. "Bones," he said as he looked down at her. Her clear blue eyes looked up at him, showing him her soul…her gorgeous, intelligent, amazing soul.

"Hmm?" she asked innocently.

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to…" His brown eyes piercing hers, Booth was praying she wouldn't say no, but he had to double check.

She smiled as she glanced down at the floor, immediately looking back up and slightly biting her bottom lip. "I want to, Booth. I want to have a night where it's just us. No work, no interruptions."

As his heart fell to his knees…this time being a good feeling…Booth smiled back at her, reaching up gently and brushing an auburn lock of hair behind her ear. He nodded as the elevator dinged, stepping into the car after her.

The silent ride in the elevator made both of their stomachs twist. Once they reached Brennan's door, she smiled up at Booth as she juggled her laptop case, purse, and coat in an attempt to find her keys. "Let me," he told her, pulling a jingling set of silver keys out of his pocket.

"You still have my key?"

"Yeah…I, uh…I didn't want to let go," he admitted as he pushed the door open.

Once inside, Brennan sat her things down at the counter and slid her heels off. "I'm going to go change," she told him, trying to conceal her slight smile.

"Kay," he replied. "Want me to fix you a drink?"

"Yeah, sure," she called to him as she entered her bedroom.

Booth moved around the bar in the middle of the kitchen, reaching for the cabinet with the glasses. "What do you want, Bones?" he asked, not sure if she had heard him.

"Surprise me," she called back out. Booth smiled as he carefully pulled out two wine glasses. He reached for a bottle of red wine, filling the two glasses halfway. After he put the top back on the bottle, he carried the glasses to her living room and sat them down on the coffee table.

"Wine, huh?" she asked as she appeared behind the couch. "I didn't really expect you to be a wine drinker." Booth looked her over, taking a deep breath when he saw exposed skin.

"I'm full of surprises, Bones," he told her with a smirk. Not only did she have on a pair of cotton pajama pants that hugged her just right, she was sporting a tank top, baring her shoulders.

"Have a seat," Brennan told him as she sat in the middle of the big couch. Booth slid his suit jacket off, throwing it across the back of the adjacent chair, and sat down beside her.

Smiling as she saw the colorful tie that he was wearing, she slightly chuckled. "You and your ties."

"What about them?" he asked defensively. As she turned to face him, Brennan took a sip of her wine.

"Nothing, Booth." He rested his arm on the back of the couch as they both smiled at each other like third graders. Eventually, she fell into his side.

Booth slowly pulled his arm around her shoulders and breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm really glad that we're back, Tempe."

"Me, too," she admitted as she looked up at him with her big blue eyes. She noticed a strange look on his face as he sat his wine glass back on the table. Taking a deep breath, she knew this was her chance. As she looked up at Booth, Brennan bit her bottom lip as she grazed a hand across his chest.

His eyes widened as her touch pressed harder and harder against his muscles. Looking down at her, not entirely sure what the hell was going on, Booth's heart did flips. Moving to where her knees were under her, Brennan began pressing against Booth, running a hand through his tousled hair, her lips getting close to the skin on his neck. His mouth fell open as she got _awfully_ close to what was lying…well, maybe not so much _lying_…underneath his pants.

Shaking his head, snapping himself out of the dream he _must_ have been having, Booth found both of her hands and took hold on them. "Bones! Bones Bones Bones! Uh…" he stuttered, trying to calm his breathing down. "What exactly are you doing?" Narrowing his eyes, Booth held onto Brennan's hands as she sat back down beside him with a look of shock on her face, accompanied by tears filling her eyes.

As she pulled her knees up to her chest, Brennan placed her delicate hand on his cheek and moved his face towards hers. "I…I want this, Booth," she nearly whispered, beginning to sniffle between the words. "And I'm scared to _death_ right now that…that you're going to leave again. And I just thought…" She wasn't sure if her heart had ever raced as quickly as it was at that point, nor had her stomach ever felt so full of 'butterflies' nor had she felt this extreme hot and cold at the same time. "I just thought that in case that _does_ happen again, I don't want to regret anything like I did last time."

Booth's eyes went from nervous to protective in about half a second as he brushed her cheek with his thumb. "Temperance…" he whispered, pulling her into him and kissing her forehead. "Look at me for a second," he asked. She looked up, tears slowly and gently falling down her rose-colored cheeks.

"I'm not leaving again," he told her bluntly. His brown eyes searched her face for any sign of happiness or relief. "I swear…that with _everything_ I have…I will NEVER hurt you again." He ran a finger against her cheek, catching a tear that was falling.

"You can't know that," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around her knees and changing her gaze to across the room. He noticed that her body was visibly trembling. She felt like a complete fool, her heart still not beating regularly.

"Temperance…" he whispered again, pulling her chin up gently to look at him. "I _do_ know that. I may not be able to tell you what the forty-third element on the periodic table is…"

"Technetium," she whispered.

Booth smiled as he squeezed one of her hands with his. "My point, Tempe, is that people, emotions, and feelings are my thing. And just like I trust you that tech-whatever you said is the forty-third element on the periodic table…you have to trust me that I know my own feelings." His eyes searched for some sign of acceptance of what he was saying.

"But feelings aren't-"

"Scientific, yeah I know, sweetheart," Booth interrupted her. "But that bubbly feeling in your stomach right now…that's fear and excitement. The rush that's going on in your chest," he said and gently pointed his finger at her heart, "That is your mind telling you that you really do feel things. You _do_ feel emotions…you feel the pain and nervousness that you're thinking about right now. And you're feeling that pull that tells you to stay close to me. I can see it, Tempe…"

Reaching up to wipe a tear from her cheek, Booth smiled as he leaned in closer to her. "And these tears…they're validating your fear, excitement, love, nervousness, and pain. They're all real, Tempe. And you have to trust me on that." Eventually, his forehead pressed against hers as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Tears fell out of the slit as she held her eyes closed. "Look at me, sweetheart," he whispered, his breath hot against her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open revealing the redness that was closing in on them. "I _love_ you, Temperance Daesee Brennan, and I'm never leaving you. _I. Love. You."_

Without any more thoughts, their lips collided against each other. The room seemed to be spinning as time slowed down, both, of course, being impossible. Their foreheads still pressed together as they broke apart, they were both breathless. Her eyes jumped back and forth between his eyes and his mouth.

After she caught her breath and realized she really wasn't flying, Brennan found his gaze again and searched back and forth between his eyes for signs of him telling the truth. And after considering Angela's…and Booth's…advice on "gut feelings," Brennan concluded that they might have been on to something.

Her eyes ran back down to his chest, specifically his striped tie. "I'm sorry, Booth," she let slip out.

"What?" He tilted her head back up as he ran one of his hands through her long, auburn hair.

"I'm sorry…about this…"

Brennan softly put her head back down against his chest. Booth pulled her closer to him as they both sighed in unison. "Do you trust me?" he asked, his voice vibrating where her head lay.

"Always," she told him as her weak eyes looked up at him.

"Good," he said with a smirk. "So, it's time to quit all this crying business that I _know_ you hate and live our lives the way we want." Brennan chuckled through her puffy eyes as she smiled. "There's that smile…" he said and grazed her cheek with his hand. "God, I love that smile." She smiled big again before she put her head against his shoulder.

As he toyed with one of her hands, Booth would randomly kiss the top of her head. She smiled every time he did it, thinking he didn't see her, but he did. Every time he saw her smile peek through, his heart fluttered more.

Before very much longer of just sitting on the couch, Brennan's eyes were shut as she began to doze off. Booth ran his hand across her back, knowing that she needed sleep. "Tempe…" he whispered into her ear as he kissed her temple.

"Hmm?" she asked, raising her head up.

"I'm going to go, okay?" Brennan's eyes got an instant look of worry in them.

"Don't go," she replied. "I want you here."

"Are you sure?" Booth pushed a curl out of her face as she nodded.

"Please don't leave," she nearly begged.

He kissed her forehead. "I won't go anywhere if you don't want me to. But let's at least get you in bed," he insisted as he stood up. Picking her up in one swift motion, Booth carried her to her bedroom.

Turning back the sheets, he sat Brennan on the bed and smiled at her. He leaned down, kissed her soft lips before she laid down, and took a step towards the door. "Where are you going?" she asked, her head immediately jerking back up.

"To the couch…" He didn't understand why she was asking. He had stayed at her place before and had always slept on the couch.

Shaking her head, Brennan curled her finger at him, signaling for him to come to her. He smiled as he gave in and sat on the edge of the bed. "Why are you shaking your head?"

"I want you in here," she told him bashfully as she took his large hand in her petite one.

Booth smiled, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "Are you sure?" She nodded and flipped down the covers on the other side of the bed. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but he went with it. After he flicked the light switch off, he walked to the other side of the bed and sat down on the edge. Kicking his shoes off and lying back against the pillow, he smiled as Brennan rolled over towards him. He saw her beautiful blue eyes in the moonlight that crept into her window.

"You're sleeping in _that_?" she asked, noticing he was still in his suit pants and shirt.

"Looks that way, Bones," he told her and attempted to pull her closer to him.

"Get up," she told him. He looked down at her with a strange expression on his face. "Bottom drawer over there," she told him and pointed. "There's a pair of men's pajama pants that'll fit you. Get them."

"I'm not wearing someone else's pants, Tempe," he said with a chuckle.

"Nobody has ever worn them, Booth." Brennan propped herself up on her elbow. "I got them for Russ when he was supposed to stay with me one time, but he never showed up. They'll fit you."

Taking a deep breath and kissing the top of her head again, Booth got out of the bed, once again playing along with what she wanted. He pulled the drawer open, found a pair of still-packaged pajama pants, and pushed the drawer back in as he took a step towards the door. Brennan smiled as he walked out of the door and towards the bathroom.

Within a minute or two, Booth reappeared in the plaid pajama pants and the wife-beater he wore as an undershirt. "Better, Miss Brennan?" he asked and climbed back into the bed.

Brennan smiled and curled into his side. "Much." Booth wrapped his arms around her tight after he covered them both with the comforter on the bed.

'_How did I get so lucky?_' he asked himself as he ran a hand up and down her back.

Within a few minutes, Brennan had quit moving. Her breath flowed warmly and evenly against his skin as she tucked herself between his arm and his side. Looking down, Booth smiled and brushed one last strand of hair out of her face. "Booth?" he heard her quietly call out.

"Hmm?" he asked, running a finger against her jawline.

"I love you." Her voice was so soft that he almost didn't hear what she said. But thankfully, he did hear it. The three words that left her lips set his soul on fire, but he knew he had to say something in reply. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Booth took a deep breath and tried again. "I love you, too, Temperance. I love you so much."

* * *

"Uuugh," Brennan groaned the next morning as her phone blared beside her bed. She flipped it open without looking at the caller ID. "Brennan…"

"Hey, sweetie!" Angela shouted on the other end of the phone.

"What the fucking hell, Ange…what do you want?"

"I want to talk about you and Agent Sexy…" Brennan groaned and covered her eyes with her spare arm.

"Angela, it's six-thirty on a _SATURDAY_ morning. We can talk about this later," Brennan nearly snapped.

Almost asleep again, Brennan shook her head as she realized Angela was still talking. "We can talk about it now, too…" Angela tried informing her sleepy friend.

"No, Ange. We can and _will_ talk about this later." Brennan snapped the phone shut, held the power button until the phone's light went off, and tossed it back on her bedside table. As she blinked her eyes a few times, Brennan began remembering the previous evening.

'_Holy shit,' _she thought to herself, her eyes getting wide. '_Did that really happen? Maybe I should talk to Sweets about hallucinations…' _Scared to turn over and actually see if he was still there, Brennan's heart jumped as she felt an arm snake around her waist. A smile formed on her face as she took a deep breath. _'Okay…So I'm not crazy…'_

Brennan rolled over, pushing herself further into Booth's arms, and smiled at the barely-awake man lying next to her. "Hey you…" he whispered, his voice creaky.

"Hi," she whispered back, biting her bottom lip as she smiled bigger. "I didn't think you would be here," she admitted as Booth kissed her forehead.

"Why not?" he asked, kissing the space between her eyebrows.

"I just thought…" she spoke as he kissed the tip of her nose, "that it was too good to be true."

Booth placed a final kiss against her supple lips, once again making the room spin, as he cupped her face gently with his hand. "I told you, Bones…I'm not going anywhere."

After lying with her in his arms for a while, showering Brennan with kisses, Booth smiled as he finally formed a plan in his head. "Hey, Bones…" he asked, his arm wrapped around her shoulder.

Brennan looked up, as content as ever. "Hmm?"

"Would you like to go on a date with me tonight?" he stared down into her big eyes as a smile grew across her face.

"Yeah…I'd like that, Booth." Placing her hand against his cheek, she leaned up and pressed her lips to his, afterwards seeing a genuine smile form on Booth's face. Brennan chuckled as she put her head back against his chest. "Where are we going?"

"Can't tell you that, Bones," Booth replied with a smirk. Brennan shot him a look. "Just be at my place, 7 o'clock."

Pursing her lips, Brennan sighed. "Well, what do I wear to this surprise date?"

"Something nice," he said with a gleam in his eyes.

"Like, work-nice, date-nice, or formal-nice?"

Booth chuckled as he kissed her forehead. "Date-nice." She laughed at the smirk across his face.

"Okay…date-nice dress at your place at 7. Got it." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, trying to calm his heart down a little bit.


	6. Just For One Night, Tempe

**** Just let me say, I LOVE all the comments and alerts/favorites I get! Every time I get an email saying someone has liked my story or reviewed it, I have to smile really big :D **

**Well, this chapter is just another step in getting us to where we want Brennan and Booth to be ;) I hope yall enjoy!**

**Don't own them, sadness :( ****

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After a morning and afternoon of lying around Brenan's apartment, she and Booth sat on her couch that faced wide windows overlooking D.C. Brennan had her legs thrown over Booth's lap as they talked and laughed for what seemed like hours. After all, they had a lot of catching up to do. Eventually, Booth looked down at his watch.

"Hey, I think I'm gonna head back to my place, Bones. I need to run some errands and get ready for tonight," he told her. She stuck out her bottom lip, causing Booth to chuckle.

"But I don't want you to go," she shyly admitted.

Standing up, Booth leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "It's 3 o'clock now. We'll see each other again in 4 hours. Promise." He smiled as he started to walk off. Before he made it to two steps away, he felt something tugging on his hand, causing him to look back.

Brennan stood up, holding onto Booth's hand. She stood on her tippy toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek before landing back on her flat-feet.

He looked down with his head tilted to the side as he caught Brennan's hand back in his own. "What do you mean, Bones? Why are you thanking me?"

"For staying with me last night." She sounded bashful as she looked up at him with her big blue eyes. "And for showing so much consideration towards me."

Booth narrowed his eyes as he smiled slightly, searching her face for something…something that was missing. "Bones, you don't have to ever thank me for staying with you or being nice to you."

"I know. I just want to." Her demeanor almost came off to him as _not-Bones_ like. Booth smiled at her and pressed his lips into hers.

"I'll see you at 7, okay?" Brennan nodded with a coy smile as she shut the door behind Booth.

* * *

"Hello?"

"Sweets?" Booth asked as he stepped into his SUV.

"Agent Booth," he greeted. "How may I help you today?"

"Cut the shrink-y stuff, Sweets," Booth told him upfront. "I was wondering if I could come by and talk to you real quick. As…as a _friend_."

Sweets cleared his throat on the other end of the phone. "Of course, Agent Booth. I'm at my office. Stop by anytime."

"I'll be there in fifteen," Booth said as he snapped his phone shut. He took a deep breath as he put the vehicle into drive. There was _something_ different about Bones. Something…something _BIG_. And it wasn't that he didn't like the change, because he did. He just couldn't place a finger on it.

* * *

Booth knocked five times on the large wooden door, labeled with "Doctor Lance Sweets" at the top. "Come in!" he heard before he pushed the door open. "Agent Booth," Sweets greeted again, spinning around in his office chair and standing up.

"Hey, Sweets," Booth nearly groaned as he plopped on the psychologist's couch.

Sweets sat across from the couch in his usual chair and sat back, crossing one of his legs over the other. "What's going on, Agent Booth?"

"Just call me Booth, Sweets. This visit isn't official."

"Right…" the young doctor said with a nod. "Um…What's going on, Booth?" He admired Booth for his bravery and strength, so it was difficult for him to drop the Agent title.

"I…ugh…" Booth groaned again, throwing his head back into the top of the couch. His eyes roamed the ceiling as his stomach twisted. "First…" he said, lifting his head back up. "I was wondering what exactly happened when I…uh…left? What happened with Bones?"

"You know I can't discuss that with you, Booth," Sweets told him as his eyes grew with concern.

"I'm not talking about personal details here, Sweets. I'm talking about…what did YOU notice as her friend?"

Sweets knew that he probably shouldn't open his mouth, but he also knew that Brennan wouldn't ever tell Booth some things that he needed to know. Sighing, he began to talk. "Dr. Brennan went through a great deal of…emotional stress after you left, Booth. She backed even further away from her friends and the people that cared about her, and pretty much went into a solitary state."

Booth cringed as his stomach twisted again. "She quit talking for a while, during which I understand she slept in her office and pretty much never left the Jeffersonian. After a few months…she actually came and saw me."

Knowing that something had to be _seriously_ wrong for Bones to go own her own to see a shrink made Booth realize that he caused more damage that he had suspected. "I can't talk to you about what all she told me, but I can tell you that she really had me worried for a while." Sweets shifted in his seat. "I suggested a few techniques and other things to lighten the stress and emotional trauma that she was dealing with, and thankfully they seemed to work."

"What did you suggest?" Booth asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees.

"You know I can't discuss treatment, Booth. Maybe one day she'll tell you, but I cannot mention anything about it unless she gives me written permission."

Booth nodded. "Onto the second thing…" he twisted his fingers together.

"What is it?"

"If Bones and I…uh…_you know_…start seeing each other…what will the FBI do about that?" Sweets tried to conceal his smile. "I mean, I've always heard that they'll can your ass, but I…probably need to be more safe than sorry…" Booth avoided eye contact with the psychologist. He _knew_ that Sweets would give him hell about this.

"Well, Agent Booth…" Sweets said attempting to not chuckle, "The official regulation states that partners cannot become intimate at any cost. However, _I_ am the one that decides how much intimacy is too inappropriate. So if that ever decides to come up, I'd just keep it quiet for a while." Sweets raised an eyebrow with a grin at Booth. "So…are you two-"

"Thanks a lot for the information, Sweets," Booth interrupted him and stood up. Sweets rolled his eyes.

"Anytime, Agent Booth. Let me know if I can be of any more assistance."

"Will do, Sweets," Booth called out once he exited the office. After he was in the elevator, Booth leaned back against the wall and sighed. He was right. There _was_ more than just a little something wrong with Bones when he left. He had halfway expected her to just clam up, dive head first into a pile of dead bodies, and continue on her way as if he had never existed.

As the bell dinged, Booth stepped off of the elevator and pulled his keys out of his pocket. He _knew_ he had to make up the previous year to her. He _knew_ that no matter how her demeanor was that morning, she was going to be hard to win back fully. "Here goes nothing," he huffed as he stepped into the SUV.

* * *

Once Booth had left her apartment, Brennan decided to lie down on the couch and try to take a short nap. She didn't really expect to fall asleep, but she fooled herself. Jolting awake as her phone buzzed against the coffee table, Brennan quickly sat up, her hair in a royal mess, and threw the blanket in the floor. "Brennan…" she answered sleepily.

"Hey, beautiful…" The voice on the other end of the phone was familiar, making Brennan smile as she glanced at the clock on the wall in front of her.

"Hello, Booth. Couldn't last more than an hour without talking to me, huh?" she teased.

Booth chuckled as he swerved through traffic. "Something like that, Bones. I was just wanting to suggest for you to, uh…" he swallowed hard, "bring something to sleep in…if you want to, that is…"

"Oh," Brennan's heart jumped inside her chest. "Yes. I will do that."

"You don't have to, Bones…"

Brennan stood up and walked into her kitchen, grabbing a glass out of the cabinet. "I know that. But I want to," she chuckled. "Believe it or not, I do desire to both sleep next to you _and_ with you, Booth."

"I can't believe you'd want to, but I'm thrilled that you do want to," he admitted with a grin on his face.

"I don't know what that means…" Filling the glass up with water, Brennan sat it down beside the sink.

Booth laughed to himself. "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. Hey, I'll see you in a couple of hours, okay?"

"Okay, Booth. I'll be there at 7."

"Can't wait," he replied as they both shut their phones. Brennan's heart flitted in her chest as she fell back onto her bed with a loud sigh. She was smiling but didn't know why, causing her to chuckle at herself. It was like she had school-girl emotions about 15 years too late.

* * *

As she stepped out of the shower, Brennan wrapped a soft towel around her naked body and wiped the steamed up mirror with a hand towel. "Hmm…" she said as she looked in the mirror. "I know what I'm going to wear!" she announced to no one.

Running into her bedroom, still clad with a towel, Brennan pulled open the armoire doors and glanced through her collection. Eventually, she moved enough clothing out of her way and found the dress she had thought of. "Perfect," she whispered with a grin on her face.

After she had applied a light amount of makeup around her eyes and placed soft curls in her hair, Brennan grabbed the dress off of the wooden hanger. She unzipped the side of the dress and stepped into it, being careful not to rip anything. Shimming her way into it, Brennan eventually held it in place with one hand while she zipped with the other.

She trotted back into her bedroom, slid on a pair of heels, grabbed her handbag, and looked in the long mirror one more time. She smiled at herself, checking from head to toe. Soft auburn curls framed her face, smoky gray makeup shaded her eyes, and the shoes complimented her dress perfectly.

* * *

Booth nervously glanced between the watch on his wrist and the clock on the wall as time seemed to slow down. "Oh, come ON!" he groaned. "It's been 6:45 for TEN minutes!" He paced in his living room, looking out the window after every couple steps.

He was dressed in a simple pair of black pants with a charcoal shirt that was topped with a black tie. He pressed a wrinkle out of his shirt as he saw a car pull into the driveway. "Here it goes," he said with a catch in his throat. Within a few moments, he heard a gentle knock on his door.

Taking a deep breath as he slowly took a few steps towards the door, Booth exhaled as he reached for the door knob. With a twist, the door creaked open, revealing the most amazingly beautiful woman standing behind it.

Booth's jaw dropped and his eyes widened as he gazed his eyes across her entire body. Her hair was in _perfect_ curls, just the way he liked it. She had on not too much, but just enough makeup to look sexy. His eyes traced her figure down to the small, black dress that hugged her tight. Strapless and short, it revealed _just_ enough skin to make his entire body tingle. Making his way down her body, he realized that he was speechless when he saw the shiny black stilettos that held her feet.

But those things were just accessories. The absolutely most beautiful thing that adorned Brennan was completely and positively, one-hundred and fifty percent without a doubt…her _smile_. It lit her entire face up as her lips curved upward. "Oh…God…" Booth eventually choked out. He held out his hand for her, eyes still wide.

"You don't like it?" she asked, confused. She knew that most people only exclaimed the _so-called_ god's name when they were in distress or unpleased.

His eyes wandered back up to hers as he shook his head and took her other hand in his. "Oh, that's not it _at all_, baby." He kicked the door shut, leaning down to wrap his arms around her waist. As he pulled her closer to him, Brennan wrapped her arms around his neck. "You…" he said as he kissed the top of her head, "Are…" he kissed her forehead, "So…" he kissed her nose, "Beautiful…" he finished with one last kiss to her lips.

As they separated a little, Booth saw her smile come back to her face. "So I wore the correct attire?"

"Most definitely," he said, still not being able to take his eyes off of her. "Are you ready?" he asked.

She smiled as she clutched her handbag. "Very."

"This way, then…" he said as he held onto one of her hands and guided her deeper into his apartment.

"Where are we going, Booth? The door is back there…" Brennan observed, noticing the dark room ahead of her, but continued to follow him.

She could see well enough to notice the smile on Booth's face as he stopped and gently flipped on a light switch. Showering the room with a dim light, a lamp across the room flickered on. "This way…" he whispered as he pulled her towards him, eventually placing his hands on her hips and guiding her in front of him.

"Booth…" she groaned, not being able to see what was in front of her. Without any words, Booth guided her towards a chair.

"Have a seat," he whispered as he kissed her temple. She sat down as he pulled the gold lighter out of his pocket and lit a flame atop two candlesticks.

Brennan looked across the table in front of her and noticed the candles, plates, glasses of wine, and food. "Oh, Booth…" she gasped. He grinned as leaned down and pressed his lips into hers.

"I hope this is table is alright for you, Miss Brennan," he teased.

"It's perfect, Seeley," she whispered, pulling at his tie until he met her lips again. "You cooked all this?" she asked as he sat down.

"Yes mam. All for the beautiful vegetarian that is meeting me for dinner tonight." Brennan smirked, understanding his joke. Her plate was filled with an amazing-smelling spaghetti and perfect garlic toast.

She placed a napkin on her lap and picked up her fork, taking a delicate bite. "Wow, Booth! This is quite impressive…" she complimented him as the flavors overwhelmed her tastebuds. He smirked across the table. "I didn't really think that you would cook."

"Constant surprise, Bones. Constant surprise." With a shared smile across the table, Booth and Brennan enjoyed their perfect, absolutely wonderful dinner.

* * *

"Tempe…" Booth called softly from across the table.

"Hmm?" She looked up with her blue eyes wide, a smile creeping across her face.

"Want to dance?"

With the smile still plastered on her face, Brennan nodded as she placed her napkin back onto the table. By the time she looked back up, Booth was holding out his hand for her. Still grinning, she placed her hand in his and stood up, following him to the middle of the room. Grabbing a remote on a nearby table, Booth hit a button, turning on slow, soft music.

Booth resumed his place by Brennan as he gently placed one hand on the small of her back and as she put an arm across his shoulder, followed by them joining their free hands. The dim light that was given off by the candles was just enough for Booth to see her smile and the gleam in her eyes.

As they started swaying to the soft music, Booth smiled down at Brennan. "You are so beautiful…" he whispered, kissing her temple.

"Since I decided to ban myself from squint talk tonight, I'll just say thank you." Booth chuckled and rolled his eyes. Her smile was still radiating. Brennan rested her head against his chest as the music continued to direct them around the room.

After what seemed like forever…figuratively, of course…Brennan sighed, realizing she was as happy as she could be at that very moment. "I love you, Seeley Booth," she said plainly as she looked up. Her blue eyes pierced his brown ones, showing him as much of her soul that was possible.

"And I love you, Temperance Brennan." Booth, smiling, leaned down and pressed his lips into hers, causing a soft moan to leave her vocal chords. Brennan wrapped both of her arms around his neck, pressing her lips into his again as she was wrapped with his strong arms.

As their tongues met, sparks seemed to fly across the room, causing both of them to lose their breath. Looking at each other, both smiling, Booth brushed a curl out of Brennan's face, afterwards tenderly cupping the side of her face with his hand. Kissing her one last time, Booth pulled his head back and sighed. "So, Miss Brennan," he said with a smirk. "Would you like to go back to my place?

Brennan laughed as she took both of his hands in hers. "I'd like that, Mr. Booth."

As he chuckled, Booth flipped the light switch, showering the room with brightness. Before walking any farther, he took a step back, pulled Brennan to him again, and pressed his lips to hers. "I can't get over how beautiful you are," he whispered in her ear.

"Booth, you're embarrassing me," she admitted.

"What? How?" He knew that she had never been comfortable with _true_ and _genuine_ compliments, but he also was on a mission to change that.

Clutching his hand as the two walked back towards the entry way, Brennan rolled her eyes. "You _know_ how I feel about compliments, Booth."

"And you, Bones," he started, nuzzling her temple with his nose, "_know_ how I feel about giving compliments. Especially to you." He kissed the top of her head as she sighed.

"I need to get my bag."

"Unlock your car, I'll run get it."

Brennan put a hand on her hip and cocked an eyebrow at him. "You also know how I feel about having things done for me."

"Just for one night, Tempe, let me be the man and take care of you," he nearly pleaded. She quickly thought his plea over, smiling as she reached a conclusion.

"_One_ night," she said, reaching into her handbag and hitting the unlock button to her car. Kissing her on the cheek, Booth left the house for approximately 2.7 seconds before he returned carrying Brennan's bag.

"So, Bones," Booth grinned as he shut and locked the door, Brennan taking it from his hands. "Whatcha got in there?" Brennan smirked.

"I guess you'll just have to find out, Agent Booth." After seductively smiling and narrowing her eyes, Brennan turned and walked slowly towards Booth's bedroom, making absolutely sure to sway her hips as much as possible, giving him one last glance over her shoulder as she reached for the bedroom door..

Suppressing a groan, Booth leaned his head back and looked at his ceiling. "She's going to be the death of me…" he spoke quietly before following her down the hall.


	7. I Can't Determine Anything

****Muchas gracias por los comentarios! They make me very happy :) Let's see...this chapter has smut...or does it? Hmmm :) Looks like another case is getting kicked off, too! :D Enjoy, yall! Oh yeah, this is really where the M rating kicks in, just a warning.  
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**Don't own them :( ****

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Following Brennan down the hallway, Booth's heart began to race. As he rounded the corner to his bedroom, he saw her slipping off her shoes as she looked up and smiled. "I'm going to change clothes, if that's okay," she told him as she picked her bag off of his bed.

"Of course it's okay," he replied as she stopped in front of him. Without her heels, she was several inches shorter than him, having to get on her tippy toes in order to press her lips into his. Booth let  
out a slight groan as they parted and his eyes fluttered open.

"I'll be right back," she whispered, kissing him on the cheek one last time, and trotted out of the room.

Booth sighed as he sat on the edge of the large bed. He kicked his shoes off revealing some typical Booth-socks. The wild colors wrapped around his feet in pattern, signifying his personality…or so everybody seemed to think. As he leaned back against his hands, he heard the bathroom door open. '_That was quick,'_ he thought.

After hearing a few light footsteps, Booth looked up to see Brennan walking back into the bedroom. She smiled as she sat her bag on a chair. His eyes wandering up and down her body, noticed that she was wearing a baggy pair of flannel pajama pants and a tank top. Her hair had been placed in a ponytail and her jewelry had been taken off. It didn't matter to him that she wasn't in expensive lingerie. All he wanted was _her_.

"Hey," she told him quietly as she stood in front of him.

Looking up, Booth grinned as he took her hands and pulled her onto his lap, causing Brennan to squeal. "You're beautiful," he told the woman sitting across his lap.

Brennan smiled, shaking her head, and sighed. "And you're impossible." She leaned down and pressed her lips into his again.

"Maybe so," he told her, flipping them both around to where they were lying across the bed. "But I'm going to win this battle, Tempe." His fingers traced the outline of her back as she pressed into his chest and looked up at him, her clear blue eyes fluttering.

"What battle?"

Booth chuckled and cupped a hand against her cheek. "The battle that I'm never going to stop complimenting you, sweetheart. You are much, _much_ too beautiful, intelligent, and amazing for me to just give in and not compliment you." He pressed his lips into her forehead as her arm found its way to his waist.

Sighing, Brennan chuckled. "I'm glad we agree on you being impossible." Her fingers roamed his side, feeling the soft fabric of his shirt.

Pushing himself up, Booth looked down at her, resting one of his hands on her hip, and smiled as she grinned underneath him. "I love you, Temperance Brennan."

"I love you, too, Seeley Booth." Understanding that her words were the most simple and genuine thing he had ever heard, Booth bent his neck down until his lips met hers. He pressed against her lips, slightly opening them as her tongue traced the edge of his bottom lip.

His hand that was resting on her hip began to grip more tightly as the kissing became more intense. As Brennan gently nipped at Booth's bottom lip, her arm found its way to the back of his neck. Her fingernails softly scratched his neck as he kissed his way to her jawline, specifically focusing right behind her earlobe.

Sucking gently and occasionally nibbling the skin following her jawline, Booth began to slowly kiss every inch of skin between her jaw and chest. Brennan, who was beginning to squirm underneath him, ran a hand through his messy hair, grabbing hold when he kissed a sensitive spot and letting out a soft gasp.

Slowly kissing his way down her chest, Booth spent extra time on her collarbones, nipping them as his tongue ran across them. Her gasps became increasing in volume as his tongue set her skin on fire. Brennan's hands found their way to his tie as he worked his way back to her lips. Struggling slightly, the tie eventually loosened, allowing Brennan to slip it over his head. As Booth paused from kissing her, she let out a slight grin, biting her bottom lip.

Without warning, she pushed him off of her and rolled herself on top of him. As she straddled his waist with a grin, Brennan leaned down and began returning the favor of driving him absolutely insane. She ran her lips across his prominent jawline, causing Booth's eyes rolled back into his head as he stifled a moan. Toying with his collar, Brennan slowly unbuttoned the top button. As she unbuttoned each button, she kissed the exposed skin, gently sucking and swirling her tongue across his chest.

As his hands roamed her sides, gripping them occasionally, Booth knew that he wasn't going to last long if she kept up what she was doing. Brennan looked up towards him as she pulled his shirt out of his pants, unbuttoning the last button. Even though he had an undershirt on, she softly kissed her way back up to his lips, nearly attacking them once she had arrived at them.

Slowly starting to grind her hips against his throbbing dick, still trapped inside his pants, Brennan pinned his hands to the bed, grinning as she took complete control. She bent down again, this time kissing her way up his jaw to behind his ear. As she spent a little extra time on the sensitive spot, she noticed Booth's breathing becoming even _more_ irregular than it was before. She chuckled to herself and slowly kissed her way to his other ear, still moving her hips against him.

She let go of his hands so she could trace the muscles of his chest as she continued to focus on the sweet spot behind his ear. Flicking her tongue back and forth over his skin, Brennan felt his hands running up her back, slowly going underneath her tank top. His fingers tensed as she slowly stopped pressing against his dick, then slowly started back again. As his hands wandered her skin, Brennan heard a strange noise.

Sitting up as she stopped moving, still on top of Booth, she listened for a moment. "Your phone is ringing in the other room," she told him, leaning back down to kiss his neck.

"They'll…call back…" he mumbled in between breaths. Within a few seconds, the phone had indeed quit ringing. Brennan began rocking her hips faster as Booth's breathing became more erratic. The phone went off again, once again causing Brennan to stop her movement. "Fucking hell!" Booth groaned, nearly panting.

Brennan chuckled as she rolled to beside Booth, seeing how flustered he was. Booth sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, and shook his head to snap him back into reality. He groaned as he stood up and began to walk into the next room. Still lying in Booth's bed, Brennan listened as he answered his phone.

"Booth…" he huffed. She heard his footsteps as he walked back to the bedroom. "I'm kind of busy tonight, Cullen. What? No, it's not any of your damn business. Call someone else!" Booth nearly begged as he sat down on the edge of the bed. Brennan sat up, resting her chin on his shoulder as she sat behind him. "You mean _nobody_ else has their phone on? Huh…imagine _that_." Brennan kissed the back of his neck, causing him to shudder. "But…Cull…No!...Fine…" Super confused by what was happening, Brennan decided to continue her kissing. "Yeah, whatever, Cullen. Yeah, I'll be there, dammit!"

Snapping his phone shut, Booth sighed heavily. "Bones…" he spoke up after a few moments.

"Hmm?" she asked, rubbing her hands across his back as she nipped at his earlobe.

He tilted his head towards hers, cutting off her reach of his ear. "We gotta go," he told her.

"Where?" Brennan rested her chin against his shoulder again.

"An abandoned warehouse in New Jersey."

"Why the hell do we have to go there?" Booth turned to face her as he took both of her hands in his.

His brown eyes looked deep into her blue ones as he sighed again. "They found two bodies."

"And it can't wait until morning?" Booth raised an eyebrow at her. Another "different" thing about her that he had noticed was that she didn't seemed to care when she got to a crime scene. Typically, she _had_ to be the first one there so she knew people hadn't messed with the evidence.

Booth shook his head. "No, sweetheart. The two bodies found...they're suspected to be a couple of really important people."

Brennan got a look of confusion on her face as Booth brushed a curl out of her face. "Who?"

"A senator's son and daughter-in-law." He leaned over and kissed her lips and cupped her face. "I'm sorry we can't…um…finish this tonight."

She kissed him again and smiled. "It's okay. I call whatever it is on you signifying that I get time with you when the case is over," she told him.

Booth chuckled. "You mean 'dibs'?"

"Yeah…that…" Brennan climbed off the bed. "I don't have any appropriate clothes here. I'll run back to my apartment and change, and then you can pick me up."

"Give me five minutes and we can just stop by there on the way to New Jersey." She smiled and nodded, picking her handbag up from the chair.

* * *

After Booth had changed into his typical FBI suit, the two drove to Brennan's apartment and went inside. Once they had shut the door, Brennan turned around and grinned at Booth. "Can't we just," she started as she got closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, "You know…have a fasty?"

"I think you mean a 'quickie,'" Booth said with a chuckle as Brennan began nibbling at his neck again. "No, baby. Not right now." He pulled back from her and kissed her forehead.

"Why not?" she nearly whined, attempting to reattach her lips to his skin.

"Because, Tempe…" he said, taking her hand and leading her to the living room. He sat on the couch, her following suit, as he stared into her eyes. "I want to make _love_ to you. Not just have sex and it not mean anything for our first time."

He ran his thumb across her cheek as she looked disappointed. "Sex _is_ making love, Booth," she told him, knowing that intercourse is intercourse…is intercourse.

"No, sweetheart. There's a _BIG_ difference in sex and making love. And I swear it'll happen…_soon_…but not tonight." Brennan sighed looked down at their conjoined hands.

"But I really want this, Booth…"

"Soon," he kissed her forehead. "I promise, baby. Soon."

She smiled in defeat, kissed him quickly, and trotted off to her bedroom. As she disappeared around the corner, Booth sighed and sank back into the couch. "_Why_ tonight, of all nights…" he groaned, running his hands through his short hair.

Before long, Brennan quietly walked back into the living room, sneaking to behind the couch. She leaned over and pressed her lips to Booth's forehead, causing a smile to spread across his face. "You ready?" he asked and stood up.

"Yeah," she said as she looked through her purse to make sure her keys were inside. "I still don't _want_ to go, but we don't seem to have a choice." Booth chuckled as he guided her towards the door, his hand pressed gently against the small of her back.

As the two partners started their three-hour journey, Brennan sighed in the passenger seat. She had finally gotten over her irrational fear of loving Booth, or so she told herself, and the one night that she wanted to do something personal…a damn case came up. "You okay?" Booth asked as he glanced over towards Brennan.

Slouched back in her seat, she looked back at him with a slight smile and nodded. "I'm fine, Booth. Just getting tired." She clenched her fist in her lap, thinking '_And I want to rip your clothes off right now…'_

"Why don't you take a nap? We have three hours before we get there."

Glancing down at the clock, Brennan saw that it was 11:43 p.m. "I don't want to leave you awake and driving," she admitted.

"Sleep, Bones. I'll be fine," he reached over and took her hand in his, squeezing it gently.

"Okay…" she eventually gave in, reclining her seat back. "Wake me up if you need me."

Booth chuckled. "If you're cold, reach back and grab my jacket." After thinking about it for a few moments, she realized that she was, in fact, starting to get chilly. The night air in the beginning of March still had a major chill to it.

Once she pulled the jacket over her shoulders, pulling her knees up into the seat with her, Brennan's eyes fluttered shut. Booth looked over and smiled as he saw her falling asleep. "I love you, Booth," she told him without opening her eyes.

"I love you, too, Tempe." Booth brushed his hand over her hair, giving her one last touch before she fell asleep.

* * *

"_Where the hell am I?" Brennan asked out loud, looking around an unfamiliar place. It was dark, the only light shining was the moon. Trees clouded her view as she hid behind a large bush beside a puddle of water. She heard leaves crunching behind her, quickly spinning around to look. "Who the fuck is there?" she nearly yelled. _

_Squinting her eyes, Brennan shook her head as she realized it must have been an animal. As she turned back around to glance back out of the bush, she heard the noise again, this time not turning around. Her narrow eyes immediately widened as something reached out and grabbed her arm. _

_Brennan let out a scream like no other, turning around and fighting her heart out – clawing, pinching, punching, kicking, biting, and even spitting. "Bones…" she heard. Ignoring it, she continued to fight._

"Bones…" Booth called out, shaking her arm.

"No!" she screamed out. She was fighting him in her sleep as she still dreamed about someone grabbing her in the dark.

"Temperance!" he called out louder.

Sitting up quickly, still slapping his hand away, her eyes sprung open as she backed towards the door of the SUV. "Whoa…Bones," Booth pulled his hand back. "It's just me, sweetheart…" he told her.

Her breathing was still irregular as she realized that she must have been dreaming. Nearly panting, Brennan observed her surroundings…she was still inside the SUV, Booth was next to her, and the vehicle was stopped. She looked up at him, trying to calm herself down.

"Hey...you okay, Bones?" Booth asked, reaching over and taking her hand in his. She clutched onto it, looking down at the conjoined hands and then back up to his eyes.

"Uh…yeah, I'm…I'm, uh…I'm fine," she stuttered, running a hand through her hair. "Are we, uh…are we there yet?"

"Yeah, we just got to the warehouse." Brennan sighed as she shut her teary eyes, trying to forget about the dream she had just been submerged in. "Hey, come'mere," Booth told her, unbuckling his seatbelt and leaning over. She unbuckled hers and leaned over into his arms. "You okay?" he asked, kissing the top of her head as his arms wrapped around her small frame.

"Yeah…just a dream," she said with a chuckle, trying to convince him it was no big deal.

Booth brushed hair out of her face as he ran a hand up and down her back. "Wanna talk about it?"

"No, Booth. Really, I'm okay," she said and smiled up at him. She pressed her lips into his and pulled herself back. "Now, let's get this show on the highway," she told him as she leaned down to grab her cell phone from her purse.

Booth laughed lightly. "I think you mean, let's get this show on the road." She looked up as she reached for the door handle.

"Is there a difference?" she asked, stepping out of the vehicle. Booth chuckled to himself as he climbed out of the SUV, meeting her around back. "Where is everybody?"

"They're over there," Booth said as he pointed across the parking lot. As they walked on gravel to get to the rest of the team, Booth watched as Brennan seemed to be on a mission.

Stopping as they approached the "squint squad," Brennan pulled her hair up into a ponytail. "Miss Wick, I need my suit and equipment," she instructed.

"Here, Dr. Brennan," the young girl handed her a blue jumpsuit with the Jeffersonian emblem on the front. Brennan stepped into the uniform, pulling on a pair of boots after she had the jumpsuit fully zipped.

"Bring evidence bags, Miss Wick," she told the intern as she started walking. Following behind her was an unhappy Cam, who was interrupted during an important date; a sleepy Hodgins, who was woken out of a very deep slumber with Angela; Daisy, who seemed to be oddly peppy during any and all times of the day; and Booth, who was having one of the most amazing nights of his life up until a few hours previous.

"What do you need us to do, Agent Booth?" a local uniformed cop asked.

Booth turned his head as he continued to walk. "Just stay out here out of our way until we need something from you. The cop, who was not thrilled with Booth's lack of consideration for the local law enforcement, nodded and took a few steps back.

One-by-one, they filled into the warehouse, shedding light across the building with their flashlights. "Are there any damn lights in here?" Hodgins groaned, suddenly shielding his eyes from the bright light that came out of nowhere.

"Found them," Booth announced, also holding up a hand to block the light.

Across the room, the whole team saw the disgusting site that they would be dealing with until they solved the case. There were two bodies lying side-by-side to each other, appearing to be cut in several pieces. A giant circle was drawn around the two in what seemed to be blood. In the circle in the space not covered with the bodies, half-assed hearts were drawn.

Cam covered her mouth as she saw maggots crawling across the piles of bone and flesh. "They haven't been here long," Hodgins said as he observed the crime scene. "Maybe a week."

"Come on, Bones. Do your Bones-thing so we can go back to DC," Booth said as he looked away from the deteriorating body parts. This case was even disgusting _him._ Brennan snapped on her latex gloves and carefully stepped into the ring of blood.

"I can't determine anything…" she announced after cautiously looking at the piles of rotting body parts.

"What? Why not?" Hodgins asked, his voice hinting that he was fed up with his job at the moment. Booth took a step closer, thinking he must have misheard her.

"Wait a minute…_YOU_ can't determine anything?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"No," she told him, standing back up straight. "These body parts are from at least four different bodies, Booth…" His heart sank as his head fell towards the floor.

"Fantastic…" he groaned as he pulled his phone out. After pushing a few buttons, he held it to his ear. "Cullen, it's Booth. We, uh…we have a problem."


	8. Go Play With Your Dead Things, Bones

****A/N: I just realized that in chapter 2, I had written that "He was 34, the same age as both her and Booth, and he had a family – one that loved him dearly" when talking about the guy from Hurricane Katrina. I totally meant for it to read "He was 34, CLOSE TO the same age as…" Whoops! Just for clarification, Booth is nearly 37 in this fic and Brennan is 32 :)****

****Thanks so much for the comments, again! They really mean a lot to me :) I hope yall are enjoying the case so far…I actually went back and rewrote part of it simply because I couldn't fit one line of dialog into the story lol…regardless, enjoy! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!  
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"What do you _mean_ that the _TWO_ bodies have turned into at least _FOUR_ bodies, Agent Booth?" Cullen yelled over the phone.

Booth dropped his head towards the ground as he ran his hand through his hair, biting his tongue in order to not snap at his boss. "That's what Bones said, sir. Dr. Saroyan agrees with her statement. So does the intern."

"Booth, I swear to God, you better hurry your little squint squad up and figure out if Senator Riley's son and daughter-in-law are part of the four bodies!" the Deputy Director spat over the phone.

"Yes sir," Booth replied with clenched teeth as the line was disconnected. Shaking his head as took a deep breath, he returned to the rest of the group. Brennan and Cam were poking and prodding at the body parts, Hodgins was scraping bugs into containers, and Daisy was very obviously trying not to gag as she held an evidence bag open. "How's it coming, Bones?" he asked as crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"It's all been photographed, now we're just packing up the remains so they can be transported back to the lab," she told him, pulling at something long and slimy looking coming off one of the arms.

Booth cringed as he turned his head briefly. "Are you sure there are four different sets of body parts?"

"Actually, it's looking more like six," Brennan said as she carefully placed an arm in the bag Daisy was holding.

"What? How?" Booth nearly objected, his eyes narrowing. He knew that the more bodies involved, the longer it would take for them to solve the case, and the longer it would be before he got to be with her again.

"The length of the arms and legs don't match, along with the skin tones, we're counting up to six victims," Cam threw in her two cents.

Hodgins shook his head as he screwed a lid onto one of the containers. "There are metallic flakes on the torsos of both victims…er…bodies," he spoke up. "I won't be able to analyze them till we get them back to the lab, but I'm almost positive it's just your generic metal. Probably aluminum."

"Okay, then, squints. Let's finish this up!" Booth halfway encouraged them as he clapped his hands together once. Brennan looked up at him, giving him a look before she rolled her eyes. He knew she hated being called a squint, replying to her look by pulling back one of the corners of his mouth as he rolled his eyes back towards her.

"You could help, Booth…" she told him as she wrapped her hand carefully around the wrist of another arm, not wanting it to fall apart when she lifted it off the floor.

"HA!" he laughed out loud. "No thanks, Bones. That's not my cup of tea and you know it."

She slid the arm down in another bag, Daisy shuddering as she held it open. "I don't know what that means," Brennan replied, pulling her hand, which was covered in goo, back out of the bag.

"It means…yeah, never mind," Booth countered, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Just get it moving," he quipped, pacing in a circle. It was going to be a _long_ rest of the night and day, and there wasn't much he could do to help it along until they got everything back to the lab.

* * *

Three hours later, Booth climbed into the SUV and shut his door. Brennan turned towards him and smiled, squinting as the sun started to pop through the trees. "Hey," she spoke softly, her voice making Booth instantly feel better.

"Hey back…you hungry?" he asked as he took her hand in his.

Nodding, she said, "I'm very hungry, actually. My stomach has even begun to make growling noises."

Booth chuckled and took his foot off of the brake, carefully hitting the gas pedal. He loved how clueless she was when it came to layman's terms. After driving a short distance, Booth pulled the SUV off of the road into a small parking lot in front of a diner. "Miss Daisy's Diner," Brennan read out loud.

"Looks good, huh, Bones?" Booth asked as he killed the engine.

Narrowing her eyes towards him, Brennan shook her head. "How can I possibly know that the food looks good if we're still outside, Booth?" she asked, undoing her seatbelt. Yet again, Booth rolled his eyes.

As they walked to the diner door, Booth ushered Brennan in by placing a hand on the small of her back. She smiled back at him as she entered the door, immediately looking around for a booth nearby. Spotting one, she led her partner to it and climbed in one of the sides. Booth climbed in the other side as an old gray-headed waitress greeted them. "Morning, you two. I'm Louise," her voice was creaky and old sounding.

"Good morning, Louise," Booth replied back with a smile. She handed them two menus that were worn and tattered. Flipping through hers quickly, Brennan folded it back up on the table.

"What can I get y'all today?"

"I would like coffee, please. Black. And two waffles." As the lady wrote down the order, Brennan rubbed her eyes.

"And for you sir?" she asked

Booth focused his eyes on the menu more, eventually nodding, folding it up, and laying it back down on the table. "I want a ham and cheese omelet, hashbrowns, and bacon. Coffee, too, please." Brennan cocked an eyebrow towards him as she fiddled with the butter knife on the table.

"Mmkay, y'all. Your order will be ready soon. I'll bring the coffee right out."

"Thanks, Louise," Booth said with a smile. Once the lady had walked off, he looked up at his partner. "What was that look for?"

Brennan chuckled. "All the food you ordered," she told him, shrugging.

"What about it?" he asked defensively. "I'm a growing boy!"

"You are not a boy, Booth. You're 36. You passed the "boy" stage over two decades ago."

Sighing, Booth shook his head. "Way to make me feel old, Bones," he laughed lightly.

"I didn't say you were old," she informed him. "I just said you are not a boy."

He smiled as he understood how clueless she was, yet again. "How long do you think it's going to take to figure this case out?" he asked as Louise sat two coffee cups down in front of them. "Thanks," he told her.

"Thank you," Brennan's voice was softer as she pulled a cup to her, wrapping her hands around it. "Well," she said, taking a sip of the coffee, "I don't know, Booth. From my count, there are possibly at least six bodies. That means six missing people. And without all of their body parts, it's going to be difficult to identify them."

Booth took a deep breath as he listened to what she told him. "Anything that can speed up the process, just tell me. I'll find someone to get it done." Playing with the coffee stirrer in his cup, he made figure-eight patterns in the brown liquid.

"Why are you in such a hurry to finish this case?" Brennan asked innocently, her blue eyes looking over towards him over the top of her coffee mug, steam rolling out of it.

"Remember what was happening right before the call from Cullen?"

She narrowed her eyes. "You mean us nearly having intercourse?" Her voice was too loud for comfort, causing Booth to cringe, looking around to see if anybody heard her.

"Ixnay the loud squint talk for a little bit, Bones," he told her as a flush of red spread across his cheeks. "And that's not what I was talking about."

"But that's what was going on…" she objected, crossing her legs under the table.

"I was talking about you and me spending time together." His brown eyes surveyed her facial expressions, which were telling him that she was confused…again.

"We're spending time together now…" Brennan picked her coffee cup up again, bringing it to her lips.

Booth shook his head and chuckled. He knew there wasn't much he could do but laugh. "I'm talking about just _you_ and _me_…_alone_, Bones…"

Suddenly, her eyes widened. "OH!" she caught on. "Oh, I see now." She stifled a laugh as a smile spread across her face.

"Here you go, folks," Louise announced, sitting two large plates down on the table. "Y'all enjoy!"

* * *

Once they were back at the lab, Brennan entered her office and sat her purse down under her desk. "So tired," Booth groaned as he trudged into her office, loosening his tie.

"Why don't you take a nap on my couch?" Brennan asked as she slipped her lab coat over her shoulders, quickly moving the mouse to her computer to wake it up.

"I'm fine, Bones," he said and plopped down on the soft couch.

She clicked the mouse a few times, hunched over her desk chair, and stood back upright. "I'm going to go work on the bodies," she told him, taking a few steps towards the door.

"Hey, come'mere for a second," he said, curling his finger towards her repeatedly.

Buttoning up her lab coat as she walked to the couch, Brennan stopped as she got to Booth. "What?"

"Come'mere…" he said, waving his hand to tell her to get closer.

"Booth, what is it?"

"I need to tell you something, Bones, now get closer so nobody else can hear." She rolled her eyes and conceded to his request, leaning down to face level with him.

Booth quickly leaned up, pressed his lips into hers, and pulled back with a smile on his face. "That's all," he said with a chuckle.

"Booth! Someone could've seen that!" she whispered through clenched teeth as she slapped his arm and stood back up. Putting her hands on her hips, she glared down at him as he laughed lightly.

"Go play with your dead things, Bones. Let me know if you find anything."

"Ass…" she mumbled as she walked towards the door, glowering over her shoulder at him one last time before she left the privacy of her office.

* * *

"Find anything yet, Miss Wick?" Brennan asked as she stepped on the platform, pulling a pair of gloves out of a box.

"No, Dr. Brennan. The pieces are laid out exactly how they were at the scene. All I can tell just confirmed what you already found." The intern sighed loudly as her ponytail swung back and forth behind her head.

"Okay," Brennan started, moving the magnifying camera over the top of the first leg. "It's still mostly flesh, which is _not_ my field," she reminded everybody. "But where you can see bone, there are slight indentions in nearly perfect intervals."

Cam, being silent across the platform, crossed her arms as she walked towards the examination table. "Like…from a knife?"

"Yes. Possibly…" Brennan paused. "Possibly a scalpel. The lines are too thin and perfect to be just an ordinary knife." Still looking at the cuts on the bone, she easily pulled away an area of skin to reveal more bone. "Only the exposed bone has cuts on it."

"Okay…so we're looking for…a possible surgeon with a grudge?" Cam asked, leaning over the leg.

"Maybe. Miss Wick, take the fingerprints of all four hands and see if there are any matches in the system."

"Yes, Dr. Brennan."

* * *

While Daisy ran the victims' fingerprints through the computer system, Cam and Brennan continued examining the body parts. Eventually, the intern came running back onto the platform. "Dr. Brennan!" she called as she was running.

"Yes, Miss Wick?"

The intern hunched over, resting her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. "They…they're…Senator Riley's son and daughter-in-law…"

Brennan and Cam's eyes both widened as their hearts sunk. Brennan, keeping her composure, pulled her gloves off. "I need to inform Booth," she told the team as she left the platform.

Walking into her office, she looked around but didn't see him. "Booth?" she asked, twisting her neck around the top of the couch. Slightly smiling, she saw that he was sound asleep, stretched out on the couch. She sat down on the edge of the couch and ran her hand across his chest. "Booth," she gently shook him.

He didn't move. "Booth," she whispered as she leaned her head down by his, pressing her lips into his temple.

"Mmm," he groaned as he finally started moving, blindly finding her side with his hand. Barely opening his eyes, he saw Brennan sitting back up. "Where are you going…" he whined, gently placing his hand around her and pulling her back towards him.

She smiled as his brown eyes fluttered open and closed, leaning over to kiss in between them. "We have two of the bodies identified," she told him.

"Shh," he hushed her, pressing his lips into hers. "Give me one more minute without work."

Brennan rested her forehead on his, pressing her lips into his again. As she started to trace his lip with her tongue, they both heard someone at the door clear their throat, causing them to jump up quickly. Brennan immediately reached to push some hair back in place on her head as Booth straightened his tie.

Looking over at the door, Brennan saw Angela, a smile plastered across her face as she leaned back into the door frame. "Ange!" Brennan scolded. "You almost caused me a myocardial infarction!"

"I think you mean 'heart attack', Bones," Booth told her and got off of the couch. She glared in between her best friend and him.

"That's what I said, dammit!" she yelled. Angela chuckled across the room.

"You just better be glad it was me and not someone else, sweetie," Angela told her with a laugh as she walked away.

"So," Booth said, approaching Brennan from behind, "You have two names?" He slid his hands onto her hips as he stepped behind her.

She jumped, spun around, and smacked his chest. "Booth, we're going to be caught if you don't stop," she warned. "And yes, we have two names." She straightened out her lab coat and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Are you going to tell me the names?"

Brennan looked up as she picked a file off of her desk. "Patrick and Charlotte Riley," she told him as her voice softened.

Booth's heart sunk. It _was_ the senator's kid and daughter-in-law. "Shit," he huffed, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "How were they killed? Do you know?"

"Since we don't have the whole bodies, it's hard to say. But Cam and I concurred that the pieces were cut on with possibly a scalpel. The bones were cut with a saw of some sort."

"Has Hodgins gotten anything yet?" he asked, pressing a few buttons.

She shook her head. "No, not yet. He is having problems sorting through the different types of metal flakes."

Booth pressed his phone to his ear, not looking forward to making the call to Cullen. "Yeah, it's Booth," he spoke more softly than usually. "Two of the victims are them, sir. They identified two of the hands with fingerprints in the system. "Yessir. I believe Agent Millican is in New Jersey, he should be available. Yessir, I'll keep you updated."

"Is he furious?" Brennan asked, stepping closer to Booth.

"Something like that, Bones." Shoving his phone back in his pocket, Booth sighed and squeezed out a smile towards her.

"So, what now?"

"Now, Bones, we have to figure out who the others are and how. There's an agent in New Jersey that will be our eyes and ears there. He'll be corresponding back and forth as needed."

Brennan nodded. "Then let's go figure the rest of this out so we can leave," she said with a smile, quickly getting on her tippy toes and pressing her lips against his cheek.

Smiling down, Booth chuckled. "Actually, I have to go talk to Cullen. He wants to make sure I'm _adjusting _correctly to being back at work. I'll be back in a little while though."

"We'll be here," she told him as she left her office.

* * *

Booth took a deep breath before he reached up, knocking the door. He was silently praying for the strength to not go off on his boss, knowing that he was running low on sleep and a filter for his brain. "Come in," he heard Cullen call out.

He pushed the door open, straightening his tie as he stepped in the door. "Agent Booth," Cullen greeted, stacking a pile of papers. "Have a seat," he instructed. Booth followed orders, sitting in the chair across from Cullen's desk. "You know why you're here, right?"

"Actually, I don't, sir," Booth replied, sitting back and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Cullen sat back in his chair, narrowing his eyes towards Booth. "Agent Booth, I need to be sure that things are working out before I can sign the papers to keep our contract with the Jeffersonian."

"I'm at the top of my game, sir."

Chuckling, the Deputy Director shook his head. "Not with you, Agent Booth. With Dr. Brennan."

"Wha…what about Bones?" Booth asked, confused.

"Well, from what I've heard…" he started, causing Booth to lean towards the edge of his chair, "Since the incident last year," he cleared his throat, "She hasn't been _quite_ right. I mean, obviously, she's never been _normal_," he chuckled again. "But I'm concerned that she will hinder our investigations."

Booth shook his head, narrowing his eyes even more. "Bones…uh, Dr. Brennan," he corrected himself, "Is completely fine, sir. She's working right this second on finding the son-of-a-bitch that killed Senator Riley's kid and daughter-in-law."

"Are you _positive_, Agent Booth, that she's okay?" Cullen reached a hand up and ran it across his head, confused. The rumors going around told him that she was anything but _okay_.

"Yes sir, she's absolutely fine. We've moved on from the _incident_ from last year," Booth cringed as the thoughts came back to him. "Now, if you don't mind, sir, I need to get back to finding our murderer," he told his boss as he stood up.

"Let me know when you find anything," Cullen informed him, returning to his stack of papers.


	9. Red Flag Number One

****Gracias for all of the reviews :) They make me very happy! This chapter has more of the case they're working on, and are we getting close to what happened to Brennan after Booth left? Hmmm... Review and I'll be sure to update soon :D**

**Don't own them..sad day :( ****

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Booth strolled back into the lab, his eyelids heavier than before. It was pushing 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and aside from that two hour nap, he had been up for over thirty hours. "Hey, stud muffin," Angela greeted him as she crossed paths with him.

Giving her a smile and slight chuckle, he waved. "Hey, Ange. Find anything yet?"

"The two faces that we have correspond with the two arms that were identified, DNA wise. So other than that, I'm pretty much just stuck here for team support," she laughed lightly.

"Ah, gotcha," another chuckle escaping his throat. "Where's Bones? I need to talk to her."

"Uh oh…is everything okay?"

Smiling again, he nodded. "Yeah, it's just about the case and I can't really say anything to anybody else."

"Ah, gotcha," she mocked. "I think she's in her office."

"Thanks, Ange," he told her. "Actually…can I talk to you for a second?" he asked, retracing the few steps he had made.

She smiled and motioned for him to follow her into her office. "What's up?" she asked, sitting down on the couch. Booth plopped down, resting his head in his hands as he sighed.

"What's going on with Bones?" he asked her, his voice softer than normal.

"What…what do you mean?" Angela knew what he was talking about, but she tried to play innocent for the couple of seconds she knew she could get away with it.

"Ange," Booth said, looking towards her as he leaned back on the couch, "There is _something_ different with her. And I absolutely _LOVE_ the fact that she's so…so _open_ to her and me and…_us_…but there's something that isn't making a connection to me."

Angela bit her lip, not wanting to rat her best friend out, but knowing she had to help him out if she wanted them to stay together. "Booth," she slowly shook her head. "I know I don't have to tell you, but when you left…you took most of Bren with you." Her brown eyes looked into his, filling with sadness all over again. "After she got over the initial shock, dealing with it in her own Brennan way of course, I convinced her to go see Sweets."

"Sweets told me she talked to him voluntarily, which is red flag number one," he said with a slight chuckle.

Nodding, Angela smiled sympathetically. "She loves you, Booth. She has for years, and that terrifies her more than anything, as you know. But after you left, something else happened." His heart stopped and his eyes widened, not wanting to miss a word. "And it's nowhere near my place to tell you what happened. But know…" she said with a smile, placing a hand on his, "That she will tell you in time. It's nothing absolutely life threatening," she said with a chuckle, "But it did change her life and the way she views things. Majorly…even for Brennan."

Booth took a deep breath as Angela squeezed his hand. "So, it's nothing too horrible to worry too much about?"

"Right," she confirmed.

He smiled and nodded, standing up from the couch. "Thanks, Ange. It's good to know that someone's on my side."

She let out a soft laugh and stood up beside him. "Not a problem, Seeley," she told him and hugged him briefly. "Go talk dead-bodies with her now."

"Right," he laughed, putting his hands in his pockets and leaving. Knocking on the door as he approached Brennan's office, his heart dropped to his knees.

"Come in," she weakly called out.

Booth entered her office, shutting the door behind him. "What are you doing, Booth?" she asked, spinning around in her chair and standing up. Without any words, he walked to her desk and pressed his lips into hers.

"Booth!" she gasped, pushing her hands against his chest with a slight smile on her face.

"Door is closed," he mumbled, reattaching his lips to hers. He felt her body give in slightly as he slid his hands around her waist and pulled her closer to him. After their lips had set each other on fire, Booth pulled away as he cupped his hand against her cheek and stared down into her blue eyes.

"Wha…what was that for?" she asked, her eyes fluttering.

"Can't a man kiss the woman he loves?" A smile crept across his face, followed by one spreading across hers as she bit her bottom lip.

"Of course, he can." Booth wrapped his arms around her shoulders, squeezing her slightly, as she snaked her arms around his waist.

"Bones?" he whispered, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Hmm?"

Booth took a deep breath. "You would tell me if anything was wrong, wouldn't you?"

Brennan pulled away from him, raising an eyebrow as she surveyed his facial expression. "You think something's wrong?"

"No…no, that's not it," he said with a smile as he brushed a thumb across her cheek. "I just feel like all of this has been too easy, like it's a trick," he admitted.

"You think…you think I'm lying about caring for you?"

"What? No! That's not what I mean, Tempe…" His eyes narrowed as he took her hand in his and lead her to the couch. As they sat down, Booth faced her, keeping her hand in his. "I'm just worried that this is all a "haha just kidding" type of situation. It's too good to be true." His voice, which was usually strong, sounded weak and shaky.

"Booth…" Brennan started, her eyes watering up. "I understand that I'm not…_psychologically_ the same person that I was when you left. But over the last year…I had a lot of time to think, and a lot of things changed in my life. Especially when I wasn't around anybody I knew for nine months. When I say that I love you…I _love_ you."

He sighed, realizing how horrible of an idea the conversation was. "I know you love me, Temperance. I see it every time I look into your eyes." As he looked down at her, she noticed his eyes were more of a clear brown than their usual dark brown. "I just want to make sure this is what _you_ want and that I'm not rushing you into anything." Reaching up, he grazed a finger across her chin. "I just love you too much to push you away."

Brennan reached her hand up and touched his cheek, her fingers trembling as they dragged across his skin. "_YOU _are what I want, Booth." She smiled bashfully. "I'll tell you if I'm feeling rushed," she told him, "And right now, I'm not." She pressed her lips against his temple, pulling back afterwards with her lips genuinely curving upward. "I love you, Seeley Booth."

"And I love you, Temperance Brennan."

Pressing her lips into his once more, she stood up. "Let's go solve this case so we can get out of here," she told him, taking his hand and leading him towards the door. She got on her tippy toes, kissed him just _once_ more, and opened the door, letting go of his hand and smiling back at him as she left her office.

"Maybe I can get used to this _different_ Bones," he told himself out loud, running a hand through his hair as he smiled.

* * *

"Dr. Saroyan, have you decided how you want to deflesh the bones?" Brennan asked, swiping her card as she entered the platform.

Cam, who was leaning over one of the bodies with a large pair of tweezers, sat up and pursed her lips. "I think the best way is just going to be to boil them. We have taken every sample imaginable. We're running DNA of each part now to see if any hits pop up in the system." She took a deep breath. "Miss Wick is supervising those tests now."

Brennan nodded, leaning over one of the legs. "Have you noticed the strange pattern on the exposed bone right here?" she asked Cam and pointed.

Dr. Saroyan leaned over, tilting her head to get a better look. "No…what is that?"

"It's a tumor inside the tibia. And above it is a fairly fresh fracture, probably just out of a cast."

"The length is unusually long, too," Cam noted.

Brennan nodded. "Booth!" she called out.

Walking out of her office towards the platform, he pulled his card off of his jacket to swipe through the machine. "Whatcha got, Bones?" he asked, turning his head away as he approached the body parts.

"The person that this leg belonged to was probably a basketball player. There are fractures in the exposed bone," she pointed.

"That really narrows it down," he replied, rolling his eyes.

"If you'd listen to me," she nearly snapped. "This leg belonged to a male that was 16 to 18 years old. And recently, he had to have been off the team due to a fracture. And not only did he have a broken tibia, he had a tumor inside the tibia."

Booth's eyes widened. "Nice work, Bones!" he awarded her with a smile as he pulled out his phone. Brennan and Cam both rolled their eyes, returning to examining more of the bones. "Jones, it's Booth," he said as he walked towards one of the platform corners. "I need you to do a search for me for a missing kid." Booth leaned against the railing as he waited for the go-ahead.

"He's going to be a 16 to 18 year old male, basketball player, recent broken leg, and he might have known about cancer in his leg. Yeah, I'll wait…" Yawning, he spoke again, "Yeah, what'd you find?" He jotted a few things down into his notebook before he stood back up straight. "Thanks, Jones," he said as he shut his phone.

"Got a hit," he announced. Cam looked up but Brennan stayed focus on the other leg of the same 'victim.'

"And?" Cam asked, wondering if they were getting anywhere _near_ solving this giant homicide case.

"Anthony Randle Scott, 17 years old, basketball player for a high school in New Jersey. Reported missing two weeks ago, leg was broken three months ago, and they found the cancer about a month ago."

Brennan looked up and nodded. "Do you have to return to New Jersey?" she asked, knowing he couldn't make it on the little sleep he had had.

"Nope, thank God," he mumbled. "The agent in Jersey is going to take care of getting a DNA sample, entering it into the system, sending it to us, and informing the parents if everything checks out."

"Dr. Brennan!" Daisy called out, yet again running onto the platform, this time setting the alarm off. Hodgins, who was right behind her, slid his card through the machine, and entered the group on the platform. "There are only _four_ bodies, not six."

"How do you figure that, Miss Wick?" Cam asked, taking a step back and crossing her arms in front of her.

"Okay, let's call them A and B," Daisy started. "And I'll label the parts – each head, arm, leg, and torso – with numbers, one through four." Brennan tilted her head as she watched the intern move around the tables. "Body A has head 1, right arm 1, left arm 4, torso 2, right leg 2, and left leg 3. Body B has head 2, right arm 2, left arm 3, torso 1, right leg 4, and left leg 1."

"What?" Booth asked, his eyes narrowed towards the intern and the body parts. "How the hell are we supposed to follow that?"

"The head and right arm of body A and the torso and left leg of body B are from the same person," Brennan pointed. "Head and right arm of body B and torso and right leg of body A are the same person. The left arm of B and left leg of A are the same person. And the left arm of A and right leg of B are the same person." She looked over at Booth as he rolled his eyes.

"I should've figured you would have got that," he chuckled. "And how did we figure out that they're from the same body?"

"I ran DNA tests of all body parts and matched the ones that I could," Daisy told him. "Body 1 is Charlotte Riley," she said as she pulled a picture of the first victim up. "Body 2 is Patrick Riley," she pulled up a second picture. "Body 3 is probably the basketball player. And body 4 is still undeclared."

"Very good work, Miss Wick," Brennan praised the intern.

Cam pulled another pair of gloves back on as she resumed her place at the exam table. "So we need to focus on the right leg of B and the left arm of A," she said, pulling the magnifying scope over the leg bone. "Dr. Hodgins, did you find anything?" she asked, glancing towards him.

"Yeah-" he was interrupted. Brennan nodded, also pulling another pair of gloves on. "Booth, can you look for any relation between these victims?" she asked, looking up to realize he was already walking off of the platform.

"On it, Bones!" he called out behind him.

"Yeah," Hodgins said after stopping to let Brennan talk. "The flakes of metal on the clothing are aluminum."

"What's made out of aluminum?" Cam asked, going back to pushing flesh out of the way for her to examine some of the muscle around the leg.

"This particular kind of aluminum is used primarily for small fishing boats," he said with a strange look on his face.

"So they were on a boat?" Brennan asked, pulling flesh away from the bone of the left arm.

"It looks like they were put on a boat to be transported or something."

"That warehouse was beside the water, wasn't it?" Daisy asked.

Hodgins nodded. "Yeah…and that explains why there weren't any tire tracks at the warehouse other than ours. I'm going to go work on what kind of boat it was," he told them and left the platform.

"I've noticed that Charlotte and Patrick both had multiple fractures on their arms and legs, like they were athletes. Miss Wick, pull the medical files of Charlotte and Patrick Riley." The intern scurried off, following instructions.

After a little while of focusing on the arm and leg, Cam sat up. "Dr. Brennan…I figured out the link," she announced.

"What? What is it?" Brennan asked curiously as she looked up and walked to where Cam was standing.

"The fourth body's bones were in severe stages of osteoporosis."

"Bone diseases and problems," Brennan connected all four cases together.

"Here, Dr. Brennan," Daisy told her as she held out two files.

Taking them from the young intern, Brennan flipped both of them open. Before long, she looked up with a nearly evil grin on her face. "The Riley's went to an orthopedic surgeon in New Jersey two years ago. There's a comment in Patrick's file about him complaining with the work that this Dr. Jack Rodgers did."

Brennan walked to a computer and clicked a few buttons. After typing in a name, she pulled up a file. "Anthony Scott has been seen by Dr. Jack Rodgers twice for broken legs. Once last year, and once again three months ago. But there's no record of any payment being made to Dr. Rodgers this last time," Brennan announced.

"There's our link," Cam said and pulled her gloves off.

"I have to go call Booth," Brennan announced as she ran off of the platform and headed into her office. She grabbed her cell phone off her desk and pushed a few buttons, finally holding it to her ear after the correct buttons were pushed.

"Miss me already, Bones?" he answered with a chuckle.

"Booth, we have the connection between the victims," she told him.

"That's great…what's the link?"

"We need to go back to New Jersey, Booth."


	10. Like a Crack House in the Ghetto

****First, as always, thanks for the reviews! Sorry for the delay in updating...been busy with school and all that jazz. (coughcough...I might update faster if I had the proper motivation (AKA more reviews!) coughcoughcough) :) This chapter has a little fluff and they open a can of worms in the case they're working on. Some slightly more adult scenes may happen soon ;) Anyways, I hope y'all enjoy!**

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"Are you serious that we need to go back to Jersey, because this is NOT the time to joke with me," Booth warned, pacing in her office. Driving three more hours was about the last thing he wanted to do.

Brennan nodded as she sat on the edge of her desk, eyeing Sweets across the room. "If you let someone else go talk to him, then have to go back to arrest him, he won't be there when it's time to arrest him," Sweets said as he sat on the couch. "It will go easiest if you go, confront him, and arrest him all in one sitting."

Booth glared over at the young psychologist. "How exactly do you know that?" he hissed.

"That's what I do, Agent Booth. And despite your lack of belief that I know what I'm doing…I actually do know a thing or two about sociopaths." Sweets raised his eyebrows, trying not to become frustrated.

"So what do you suggest that we do, Dr. Sweets?" Booth asked sharply. Brennan rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, knowing Booth was tired and worn down.

"Honestly, I say the FBI needs to go public. And I mean _big_." Sweets said, standing back up and pacing across the office. "Spread it around the media that this horrible crime is being investigated in DC because that's where you believe the murderer is. This guy…if he ever gets wind of you suspecting him, he'll be gone. If he thinks you're looking for someone in D.C., he'll relax more and go about his business."

"I think he's right, Booth," Brennan added with a shrug, trying to remain neutral. "We checked and Dr. Jack Rodgers has treated at least three of the patients, and probably the forth for osteoporosis. He has a boat, which is what Hodgins said was responsible for the metal flakes on the clothing. Patrick Riley's file said that he had complained about the work that Dr. Rodgers had done on him and his wife. It all lines up, Booth."

"I just don't get why we have to drive back to Jersey," Booth groaned, his head drooping.

Sweets turned on his heel, facing the sulking man. "Trust me on this, Agent Booth. Call Cullen and fill him in. Dr. Brennan, tell the rest of the Jeffersonian team that _NONE_ of this leaves this building. Then, Agent Booth, call Whitney Stevens with the FBI. She handles all of the media information now."

Booth sighed and nodded, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"I'm going to go talk to Dr. Saroyan," Brennan said as she slid off of her desk and left the room. She didn't see Cam on the platform, so she headed for her office. "Dr. Saroyan," she called out as she knocked on the door frame.

"Come in, Dr. Brennan," Cam replied.

Brennan entered the office and saw Cam at her computer. "I need to fill you in on what is going on," Brennan told her as Cam turned her desk chair towards the anthropologist. "According to Sweets, we need to send false information to the media." Cam gave her a strange look. "He says that if this guy thinks we're after him, he's going to run. So we're going to tell the news stations that we're looking for someone in DC. Tomorrow morning, Booth and I will go back to New Jersey, find the guy, and confirm everything."

Cam nodded. "Okay," she agreed. "I'll inform everybody that they cannot say a word about this." Brennan nodded, turning to leave the office. "Dr. Brennan," Cam called out, stopping Brennan in her footsteps. "After this case is over, everybody is taking a day off. No exceptions."

"Yes, Dr. Saroyan," Brennan agreed easily and left the room, returning to her office.

"What'd Cam say?" Booth asked, spinning around in Brennan's desk chair. She noticed that Sweets had left.

"She said that she understands and she will tell the Jeffersonian team to not say a word about anything. And that after the case is over, we all have to take a day off."

A nearly evil smile formed on Booth's face. "Cullen is handling the media," Booth told her. "So all we can do tonight is go home and sleep."

"Let's go, then," she told him and pulled her lab coat off of her shoulders, smiling towards Booth as she walked to the coat rack in the corner.

* * *

Booth pulled up to Brennan's building, parking his SUV. "What time do you want me here in the morning?" he asked, looking at the clock, then over to her. It was nearly 8pm as he stifled a yawn.

A simple smile formed on her face as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "I want you here _now_," she told him, pulling a grin from him.

"Are you sure?" he asked, his brown eyes staring into her deep blues. She nodded bashfully, still smiling, and opened the door, hopping out of the SUV. Booth followed suit, eventually meeting her at the back of the SUV.

As they walked towards the elevator, Brennan found Booth's hand with hers, smiling up at him as he looked down towards her. Stopping to wait on the elevator, Brennan pressed into his side, leaning her head against his shoulder.

In silence, they rode the elevator to her floor, walked to her door, and entered her apartment. Once inside, Brennan slipped her shoes off, still clutching Booth's hand, and quietly led him to the bedroom. As she took her jacket off and threw it across the chair beside the bed, Brennan walked up to Booth, falling into his arms almost immediately. "I love you," he said as he kissed the top of her head.

"I love you, too," she replied, looking up at him. Her eyes were electrifying as she softly smiled at him. "I'm going to change real quick," she said, pulling her outer shirt over her head.

"Whoa," Booth chuckled, turning around to give her privacy.

"Those pajama pants from the other night are folded in the bathroom," she said, lifting her tank top over her head. Booth shook his head as he left the room.

Once he was inside the bathroom, he shut the door as he loosened his tie. After shucking it, along with his jacket, button up shirt, and pants, Booth searched for the pajama pants she was talking about. He finally spotted them sitting on the counter, as if she was expecting him to stay the night again. He shrugged as he smiled. '_I think I can get used to the new Bones…'_ he thought to himself.

After he changed, Booth returned to the bedroom to see Brennan lying in the bed on top of the covers. She smiled at him as he flipped the light switch off and climbed into the other side of the bed. Once he was still, she curled up next to him as he pulled her closer. Looking up at him, she smiled. "Hey you," he whispered with a grin.

"Hey yourself," she replied, still smiling. He kissed her forehead and put his head back on the pillow. After a few silent moments, Brennan finally spoke up. "Booth…"

"Hmm?" He pressed his lips to her forehead again, and then looked down at her. He watched as her eyes ran across his chest, but never looked up at his face.

"I…I'm sorry about last year." Her voice was soft as she noticed her own body somewhat trembling.

He lifted her chin up, making her look at him. "It wasn't your fault, Tempe."

"But…I should've told you, Booth." His eyes slightly widened, thinking she was going to finally tell him what happened the year before. "And not let you find out through my father. I should've told you that I was seeing Sully again."

He brushed his thumb across her cheek as his heart rose back into his chest, catching a tear before it hit his shoulder and sighing as he realized that she wasn't telling him anything new. "You seeing him again wasn't any of my business. And that doesn't have anything to do with why I snapped that day."

"Are you sure?" she asked, her blue eyes watering even more.

"Positive. I had a lot of things going on. And that's not any excuse for me blowing up the way I did, but I swear, it didn't have anything to do with you seeing Sully again."

"What was the reason then?" Brennan was confused.

Booth took a deep breath and let it out, running his hand through her soft hair. "That was after all the Hannah bullshit," he told her.

"I know that." Brennan's eyebrows came together as she tried to figure out what he was saying.

"The day before I snapped at you, I found out that Hannah…" he squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again, "was seeing another guy." Yes, he was over Hannah, but it still stung a little.

Brennan slowly lifted her hand up and ran a finger across his jawline. "I'm sorry, Booth," she told him.

"That wasn't even the worst of it," he told her. "I also found out that she was…um…engaged to the other guy."

"Are you _serious_?" Brennan asked, propping herself up on her elbow, her voice louder than usual. "That hypocritical bitch!" Booth chuckled and slid his thumb back and forth over her bare shoulder. After pausing a moment, watching Booth as he shook his head, she finally asked, "Why didn't you tell me that a year ago? You always used to tell me everything."

"It was just all…all crumbling at the same time, Bones. I was convinced that nobody would ever want what I had to offer. All I knew was that I needed a break from it all. I took some time off to focus on _me_ and my life. I got to spend a lot of time with Parker, which was a major bonus."

Brennan's eyes were fluttering open and shut as she tried to listen. "Why don't we go to sleep, Bones," he suggested, brushing his hand across her hair. She nodded, finally letting her eyes close. "I love you," he whispered as he kissed the top of her head.

"Love you, too," her soft voice was barely loud enough for him to hear, but it caused him to smile, nonetheless. After he pulled her closer to him, Booth let out a deep breath and followed Brennan as he fell asleep.

* * *

As sunlight crept through the blinds across the window, Booth's eyes slowly opened, squinting at first to block out the light. Looking down, he saw Brennan still in his arms, not having moved much since the night before. '_I'm so lucky,_' he thought to himself, watching her chest rise and fall.

He glanced over at the clock, seeing that it was nearly 7am, and by the time he looked back down, a pair of clear blue eyes were staring up at him. "Good morning," he whispered with a grin as he pressed his lips against her forehead. Brennan groaned, burying her face back in his chest making Booth chuckle.

After a few minutes of just rubbing her back, Booth smiled as she lifted her head up, this time slightly smiling. "You awake now?" he asked as he laughed softly.

"Morning," her voice was raspy as she pressed her lips to his. "I don't want to go to New Jersey again," Brennan groaned, stretching out her arm across his chest.

"Oh yeah you do," Booth told her with a grin.

"I don't understand…" Her eyes widened as his grin got bigger.

Kissing her forehead again, Booth chuckled. "Just trust me. You want to go this time."

"All we're going to do is drive three hours there, get the bastard, and drive three hours back here," she argued.

"You need to pack an overnight back," he whispered, pressing his lips against her temple, kissing his way down to her neck.

A small moan left her lips as he found her collarbone. "Maybe I _do_ want to go back," she murmured, rolling herself even more into his body.

"Told you so," he nagged with a soft laugh, his breath warming her skin. As he nipped at her skin gently, Brennan ran a hand up his bare back until it grasped a handful of his short hair. "Bones," he groaned as she slid her hand down his chest, tracing over his rigid muscles, "Bones…we need to get ready and leave."

"Nuh uh," she disputed, tugging at his neck as her lips found his skin. "You have to finish what you started," she breathed heavily, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end.

Giving into her pull, Booth rolled to where he hovered over her barely-covered chest, craning his head down to crash his lips into the soft exposed skin. A gasp escaped her lips as her blue eyes rolled back every time he ran his teeth across her collarbone. As he ran a hand down her side and back up, he bunched her tank-top up as he did so, grasping at anything he could get his fingers on.

While tracing her visible skin with his lips and fingers, Booth was suddenly jolted out of the mood by his cell phone ringing. "Dammit…" he groaned, lifting his head up to look down at Brennan.

"You should get that," she told him with a grin. He shook his head and rolled off of her, reaching for his phone.

"Booth," he answered out of breath.

"Seeley," Cam's voice on the other end sounded rushed. "Are…are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Camille. What is it?" Brennan rolled to her side, grinning up at Booth as she moved her lips to his bare chest. His eyes fluttered shut as he breathed deeply, wanting to keep his voice steady to avoid Cam finding out what was going on.

"Cullen just called to tell me that our suspect is withdrawing money from his bank accounts. He said that you need to leave within the hour in case the bastard tries to go anywhere."

"Thanks, Cam," he told her, gripping a handful of Brennan's hair as her fingertips traced his arm. "We'll be leaving soon."

Ending the call, Booth slid his phone back onto the nightstand. "We have to leave, don't we?" Brennan asked, resting her chin on his chest.

As he looked down into her blue eyes, he sighed. "Rodgers is showing signs of running. We need to get ready and head to New Jersey."

With a sigh, Brennan nodded and sat up in the bed, Booth following suite. "You promise we'll finish this later?" she asked, a meek smile on her face.

"Absolutely," he assured her as his lips met hers before he climbed out of the bed.

"Booth," she called as he approached the doorway.

"Hmm?" he asked, returning to her side of the bed and sitting on the edge.

Brennan smiled as she leaned over to him. "I love you," her voice was soft as she kissed him again.

"I love you, too, Temperance. More than you know."

* * *

"Where are we going first?" Brennan asked, slightly stretching inside the SUV.

"Well," Booth started, looking around for the right street to turn on, "We're going to his office first. If he's not there, we'll head to his house. We've got guys sitting on both places, but he's MIA at the moment."

"So…we haven't even started chasing him, but we've already lost him?" she asked pessimistically.

Booth rolled his eyes behind his dark sunglasses. "We haven't lost him, Bones. We're…just not exactly sure where he's at right this moment." Looking up at the building in front of them, Booth shuttered. "_This is_ a doctor's office? It looks more like a crack-house in the ghetto."

Chuckling, Brennan opened her door after he pulled into a parking spot. "Let's go…" she called out, a few steps ahead of him. Booth followed her, taking a few extra steps to catch up to her in time to open the door for her. She shot him a glance as she walked in, deciding not to protest.

"Can I help you?" a lady behind the front desk asked.

"Uh, yeah…" Booth told her, reaching for his badge. "I'm Special Agent Booth of the FBI, this is Doctor Temperance Brennan. We need to see the good doctor," he said, thick with sarcasm.

"Dr. Riley is in surgery right now," she said with a confused look.

Brennan's eyes widened. "In this building?" she asked, scared that he was actually operating in the slimy conditions that the building was in.

"No, over at Saint Mary's Hospital on Ash Street."

"Okay, Miss…"

"Jessica Martin," she filled in.

"Miss Martin, here is a warrant," he handed her the paper, "We need files on these four people, along with any files that have complaints documented in them."

She nodded, backing away from the desk. "Give me a minute and I'll pull them for you."

"How many others do you expect will be added to our list?" Brennan asked, looking up into Booth's brown eyes.

"If this guy's as big of a sociopath as Sweets says," he told her with a sigh, running a hand gently across her back, "Probably more than we imagine."

"Here you go, Agent Booth," the lady returned, handing a stack of files to him.

"Geez, there have to be twenty files here!" he complained as she nearly threw them into his arms.

She looked up, pointing behind her with a thumb. "Uh, there are more coming," she informed him.

Booth's eyes widened as he turned to look at Brennan, her eyes narrowing. "How many more?" she asked.

"Well," the redhead told them, "Most of our files were damaged in a water accident three years ago."

"Convenient," Booth mumbled, earning an elbow from Brennan into his side.

"But we have all of the files that were salvageable from then plus all the ones that have happened since then. So, I would guess around two or three thousand in all."

"And how many with complaints?" Brennan asked, taking half of the files from Booth's arms.

The lady sighed, tilting her head slightly. "I would estimate around five hundred." Booth and Brennan's jaws dropped. "What exactly are you two investigating?" she asked, popping her gum.

"Murder," Booth replied, not sure of how to handle _that_ many possible victims. The woman stopped smacking her gum as her green eyes got as big as half-dollars.

"But…Dr. Riley would _never_ do such a thing! He's a sweetheart!" she took up for him.

Booth rolled his eyes. "We'll be the ones to determine that, Miss Martin. For now, do you have a room we can start checking these in?" Brennan's heart stopped, just _knowing_ that they were going to be looking through files for _hours_. She wanted to know what Booth had planned for that night, but with five-hundred files to go through, his plans would never have a chance to happen. "Let's go, Bones," Booth called out behind him, noticing she was in the same position as she was in before he walked away.


	11. StraightUp Asshole with a Scalpel

****Hey, yall! I'm super sorry about the long wait, but college has taken over my life yet again. Thanks SO much for the reviews! Let's see...in this chapter, they finish the case along with a little cliffhanger at the end :D Don't hate me! You'll all (hopefully) LOVE the next chapter ;) **

**Don't own them...saaaad :( ****

* * *

Booth shook his head as the secretary brought more files into the small conference room and sat them on the table, stack by stack. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it to his ear. No answer. "Aw, come on!" he complained, running a hand through his short hair.

"Who are you calling?" Brennan asked, opening the first of many files.

"Cullen," Booth spoke, holding a finger up towards Brennan. "It's Booth."

"Agent Booth, what can I do for you?" the man asked, nearly cheerfully.

Booth, pacing the room, switched his phone to the other ear. "I need you to send guys over to Saint Mary's hospital here in Jersey. Tell them to find Doctor Feel Good and take him into custody _immediately_."

"I thought you said he wasn't going to run if you got there?" Cullen asked with a slight chuckle. He never did like Booth's cockiness.

"He's not running. He's just cutting someone else open. The receptionist at his office…which is really more like a shack," Booth shuddered, "Was kind enough to bring us all the files that have complaints in them." Brennan looked up as she noticed Booth propping against the wall.

"How many are we talking, Agent Booth?"

Booth shook his head despite the deputy director not being able to see him. "She estimated over five-"

"You're complaining about five files, Agent Booth?" Cullen laughed.

"No, Director Cullen," Booth mocked his boss's tone, "She estimated over five-_hundred_ files with complaints, sir." The other end of the line was silent. "So, if you could…please," Booth gritted his teeth together, "Please send a team of guys to go pick up Dr. Rodgers before he mutilates anybody else."

"On it. And I'll send some men over to sort through those files for you," Cullen replied, hanging up the phone.

Brennan looked up as Booth sat down across from her. "He's sending some agents to sort through the files so we can go interrogate Rodgers."

"This file," Brennan said as she pushed it across the table at Booth, "This woman complained of Doctor Rodgers inappropriately touching her while he was examining her before surgery. And this one," she pushed another, "The man requested another doctor to perform his surgery after Doctor Rodgers made a remark about the man's financial status."

"So…he's just a straight up asshole with a scalpel." Booth flipped through a few files, noticing that the complaints were all highlighted, making them easy to find.

"How did he have so many patients?" Brennan asked, her eyes pinched together. "Word _had_ to have gotten around about him being such a dick. I wouldn't even come to this guy for a paper-cut."

Booth shook his head and sighed. "This type of neighborhood, Bones, there are only so many choices when something goes wrong. The next closest decent doctor is probably a hundred miles away at the least."

Within half an hour, four agents showed up at the doctor's office. Booth chuckled as they all walked in, realizing that they were all rookies. "Okay," he began, "What you're doing…look at the file and make two piles. One for complaints proving that the doctor was, in fact, being illegal with his practice. The other pile is for the complaints that aren't illegal, just unethical."

The four newbies nodded, nervous looks filling their faces. "It's really not that hard," Brennan commented on her way towards the door. "Even you all should be able to do it without problems." Her words earned four glares from the young agents as she followed Booth towards the front door. "So, where are we going now?"

After they climbed into the SUV, he started the engine. "They arrested Rodgers at the hospital and they're taking him to the FBI office in the next city over for us to question him."

"Let's go broil him, then," she replied with an innocent smirk, making Booth laugh under his breath.

* * *

Standing in the viewing room, Booth rested his weight against his hands on the window ledge. He studied the doctor's moves, not letting any go unaccounted for. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brennan enter the room and shut the door behind her, immediately returning his gaze into the interview room. "You okay?" Brennan asked, stepping up beside him, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

Booth sighed and slowly nodded his head as he turned to look at her. He was furious with what the doctor had been doing, but as soon as he looked into her blue eyes, everything was suddenly fine again. A small smile spread across his face as he pulled her into his strong arms. "I'm just ready to get this case over with," he told her, placing a kiss on top of her head.

Unnoticeably getting on her tippy toes, Brennan pressed her lips into Booth's and smiled as she looked up into his eyes. "Let's go, then." She led him to the door, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before she opened the door.

Taking a deep breath, Booth pushed the interview door room open quickly, causing the stocky middle-aged man to jump. "Doctor Rodgers," Booth semi-greeted, tossing a file down onto the cold, steel table.

"And who the hell are you?" the man asked, obviously agitated as Brennan sat in one of the chairs across from him with her arms crossed.

"I'm Agent Seeley Booth, this is my partner, Doctor Temperance Brennan. And we've been tracking your busy, busy _work_ schedule."

"And what the hell is wrong with my work schedule?" the doctor asked, shifting his weight in the hard chair.

Booth, leaning up against the wall by the door, let a smirk slip across his face. "It just seems as if…you have a bit of a problem with _cutting_ too many parts."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" the man, obviously annoyed, rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Brennan watched intently as Booth approached the table and scattered the pictures from the crime scene across the table. She noticed the doctor's eyes squinting together as he chewed on the inside of his lip. Above the crime scene pictures, Booth slammed down four other pictures – the pictures of the victims. "You know them, Doctor Rodgers?" Booth asked, sitting in the chair next to Brennan.

"Uh…uh, yeah, they're my patients. What the hell happened?" he tried to act surprised.

Booth straightened his tie as he leaned forward, intimidating the doctor even more so. "Let's see…" he started. "You treated each of these four people. Patrick Riley," he tapped one of the pictures. "Charlotte Riley," he tapped another picture. "Anthony Scott and Annie Miller," he finished, tapping the respective pictures. "Patrick and Charlotte were both treated for multiple fractures from sports. Patrick complained that your work on himself and his wife wasn't quite top of the line."

Booth sat back in his chair, watching as the doctor fidgeted with his hands. "Anthony Scott came to see you when he broke his leg playing basketball in high school. However, it didn't heal straight. So when he broke the same leg three months ago, you told him that you'd do the surgery for free as long as he didn't take anything to court. It was an offer a poor, young black boy's family couldn't refuse."

"And last, but definitely not least," Booth smirked as he noticed the look of nausea spreading across the doctor's face. "Miss Annie Miller. Miss Miller was eighty-seven years old with severe osteoporosis. Six years ago, her son brought her to you after she broke her hip. You put an artificial joint in place and half-ass sewed her up. And several times every year after that, she came back to you complaining and nagging about the pain of the new hip. But, like the great doctor you are, you gave her drugs to shut her the hell up," Booth slammed his hand on the table, causing Brennan and the doctor to jump, as he stood up.

"Now, Doctor Rodgers," Booth said sharply, "After you had had enough of all four of these patients' complaints, you took your shiny scalpel and diced them into pieces. You cut their arms, their legs, their torsos, and their heads. After you had them in parts, you carefully carried them out to your little piece of shit fishing boat, loaded them on board, and took off."

Hovering over Doctor Rodger's shoulder, Booth craned his neck down to put a little extra stress on the man. "Once you were out on the river, you drove until you came to a warehouse. It was one that you knew had been abandoned for _years_. So you tied your boat up, drug the bodies into the warehouse, and used the proper parts to create two seemingly entire bodies. And what's even _more_ interesting, Doctor Rodgers, is that you took the time to try to make it look like an angry affair gone wrong. But, unfortunately for you, Bones here is the best at what she does."

He smiled over towards her from behind the doctor, placing his hands on the man's shoulders. "Do you know what she does, Doctor Rodgers? Do you have any idea?" The man nervously shook his head, sweat rolling down his forehead. "Why don't you tell him, Bones…"

"Well, Doctor Rodgers," she started, leaning forward in her chair. "I take the bones of a person and I look at them. And with those bones and the help of my team, I can tell exactly who they are, where they're from, and how they died. And you see, Doctor Rodgers, these four people…" her fingers danced along the edge of the pictures, "They were stabbed in their carotid arteries, cut into pieces with _your_ scalpel, put into _your_ boat, and placed in that warehouse by _you_."

The doctor's jaw dropped as he tried as hard as he could to make a word come out of his mouth…_any_ word, but it just wasn't happening. "So, you see, Doctor Rodgers," Booth said as he approached the door, guiding Brennan out of it. "You're going to jail for the rest of your measly life. Have a good one," he threw up a hand as he left the room, shutting the door behind himself.

Brennan turned towards him and smiled. "That was fun," she admitted. "I really liked you making him squirm." She laughed lightly as Booth grinned and shook his head.

"Let's go," he told her, leading her towards the elevators.

"Where are we going now?"

Booth pushed the button to go downstairs. "Well, after I stop by and talk to the FBI chief here, we're going to finish what we started a couple nights ago," he told her with a wink. "So, go ahead and call Cam, let her know we got the bastard, and everybody can take their celebratory day off tomorrow."

Her lips curving upward, Brennan bit her bottom lip as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

* * *

Brennan turned her head back and smiled at Booth as he dropped his bag by the hotel room door. He had checked them in to the nicest hotel in New Jersey, leaving Brennan speechless. She figured they would stay the night in an average hotel and head back home the next morning, but she figured wrong. "You ready?" he asked, holding they key towards the lock.

Silently with a grin, Brennan nodded as her stomach did flips. After sliding the card through the lock, Booth pushed the door open with a grin. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, Brennan stepped into the seemingly massive hotel room. She gasped as she dropped her bag by the door. "Booth…"

"Hmm?" he asked as he swiftly spun her towards him and held her face between his hands. Peppering her face with soft kisses, he smiled as he saw Brennan's eyes fluttering open and shut. He placed one last kiss on her lips, pulling away slowly.

"Where are we going tonight?" she asked as he guided her over to a couch.

Spinning her around, Booth pulled her jacket off of her shoulders. "Nowhere," he breathed heavily against her neck as his lips traced her skin. "We are going to enjoy ourselves right here," he told her, spinning her back around.

Brennan bit her bottom lip as Booth gently pulled her down onto the couch while reaching over to get two champagne glasses. "For you," he told her, handing her one of the glasses. She smiled, taking it graciously. He popped the cork out of the chilled champagne bottle, tilting it evenly over both glasses.

"Thanks," she replied, nearly bashfully. He smiled, leaning over and pressing his lips into hers.

"You're welcome, baby."

"Why'd you do all of this?" Brennan asked, circling the top of her glass with her finger.

Smiling, Booth pulled her into him. "I wanted it to be just us, ya know?" He sat his glass down on the table beside the couch. "After being apart for a year, and even though it's only been a few days of us actually being back together, I just felt like we needed time to ourselves. Time for me to kiss you how I want," he pressed his lips into hers. "Time for me to tell you how beautiful you are and how much I love you." Brushing hair behind her ear, he smiled. "Time for us to just be…_us_."

"I love you," her blue eyes fixated on his brown ones as she grinned and sat her glass on the table next to Booth's.

"I love you, too, Temperance." Without another word, Brennan leaned over and attached her lips to his. Her body pressed into his as his hands found her back, outlining her shoulder blades through the thin button-up shirt she had on.

Brennan kissed her way, gently sucking and nibbling, from his lips down to his jawline, running her tongue against it. Booth shifted his weight underneath her, gripping at her hips as his jaw dropped open. A soft groan escaped his lips, his breath brushing against her forehead.

Her tongue swirling in circles against his neck, Brennan looked up at Booth with a grin. "I'll be right back," she whispered, kissing his temple and standing up.

"Where do you think you're going?" he got up, following her.

Turning around as she walked, Brennan grinned as she put her hands on his chest, pushing him onto the bed. "I'll be right back," she whispered again with a seductive glare as she bit her bottom lip. After grabbing her bag, she retreated into the bathroom, quietly closing the door behind herself.

"Holy shit," Booth mumbled. He pulled his jacket off, throwing it across the room. His tie soon followed as he unbuttoned his shirt collar and kicked off his shoes.

After waiting for a couple of minutes, Booth's heart began to race as he heard the bathroom door open. "Shut your eyes," she requested, still out of sight.

"Okay," he complied with a grin on his face.

Peeping around the corner, Brennan saw his eyes were still open. "Booth! Shut your eyes!" she nearly demanded.

Chuckling, Booth honestly complied, leaning back against the headboard of the bed. Within a few silent moments, he felt her climb into the bed. He was dying to open his eyes, but he wanted to follow her directions. "Keep them closed," she whispered, pressing her lips to his temple.

Feeling her straddle herself over him, Booth's hands roamed until they found her hips. He felt a thin material under his fingers as she bent over and nipped at his jawline. "Open them," she whispered, breathing against his skin.

As his eyes fluttered open, Booth ran his eyes up and down her long body as he traced her hips with his fingers, dancing them across her lace-covered skin. Lifting a hand up, he pulled her chin up to his eyelevel. She raised her eyebrows, smiling softly. "You're so beautiful," he whispered, his eyes piercing hers.

Smiling slightly bigger, Brennan blushed a little. Her hair framed her face as she slowly leaned down and pressed her lips into his, sending chills up both of their backs. Booth's fingers caressed her skin through the black lacy material that was barely covering her body, gripping handfuls of it as his heart beat faster and faster.

Brennan reached down, still kissing Booth, and unbuttoned each of the buttons on his shirt. He leaned up long enough for her to push it over his shoulders and behind him, never breaking their lips apart. She ran her hand across his cheek as her blue eyes found his in the dim light. Pausing kissing for only a moment, she took a deep breath. "Make love to me, Seeley," her voice was so soft that he barely heard what she said.

He ran a thumb over her soft cheek as he smiled genuinely and nodded slowly, never breaking eye contact as he gently rolled her over on the bed. He hovered over her and smiled again. "I love you," he promised her, "More than words can ever explain, Temperance." Sending metaphorical butterflies into her heart and stomach, Booth slowly found her soft skin with his lips, setting her skin on fire with his touch.


	12. I am Kind of Speechless

****Hey, ya'll! :) Thanks for the reviews, first of all. IT'S HERE! This chapter is the one that you may have been waiting on, and the one I KNOW I've been waiting on ;) So, if the actions in an M story bother you, I suggest you quit reading here :)**

**Disclaimer: Don't own them.**

* * *

Trembling underneath his sweet kisses, Brennan thought her heart was going to explode in her chest…metaphorically, of course. She gripped for anything she could hold on to as Booth's lips traced every inch of her so-far visible skin. Letting out soft moans, her eyes rolled back every time he hit that certain spot.

"Are you sure, Tempe?" he asked, wanting to be absolutely triple sure that she wouldn't regret this.

She smiled as her blue eyes surveyed his facial features and reached her delicate hand up to stroke his cheek. "I'm positive," she promised in a whisper, nodding while she spoke. Her words soared through him, amplifying every nerve ending that was in his body. He had been longing for this night for _years_…so much that it often kept him up at night, wondering if it would ever happen.

Reapplying his lips to her skin, his breath warmed her as he nipped and sucked at her jawline. As his hand traced small shaped against her hip, he moved from spot to spot on her chest as he kissed his way down to the top of her lingerie. Brennan, lying under him, wasn't sure if she was ready to scream, cry, laugh, or smile…she was so full of these human emotions, she wasn't quite sure how to react other than how she knew to.

His chiseled chest invited her hands, tracing each line and curve, her nails slightly scraping against him as he hit sporadic hot spots on her neck. As a small moan flowed out of her lips, Booth smiled as he shifted down to her flat stomach. He pushed the see-through material up to her breasts, not removing the entire thing, and looked up at her as he placed a kiss directly above her belly button.

Looking back down, Booth noticed scars all across her abdomen. His fingers traced over the longest, which was running across her ribcage. Catching her immediate attention, she quickly moved her hand to cover the spot that her step father had once sliced with a piece of glass. She fought back tears as she remembered all the scars that were on her body.

"Let me see, baby," he whispered against her skin, kissing one of the smaller scars. His brown eyes locked with her blue ones and he instantly knew how ashamed of the marks she was. Never breaking their stare, Booth gently reached up and intertwined his fingers with the ones covering the scar. He showed her nothing but love and trust as he moved her hand out of the way.

He felt Brennan trembling as the long, healed slit shined in the dim light. Still locked with her eyes, Booth tilted his head down and sweetly pressed his lips to the scar, not leaving an untouched centimeter behind. As he felt her body ease, he softly smiled, kissing all of the rest of her stomach.

Running his tongue across her smooth skin, Booth blew warm air against the wetness, sending chills up and down Brennan's body, causing her to become even more wet in an area he hadn't explored yet. Her hand found his, twisting her fingers with his as she let out a soft whimper. He sat up on his knees, pulling her up with him. Kissing her mouth, he ran his tongue along her lips, parting them ever so slightly as he clenched both sides of her lingerie top.

Her blue eyes were wide as he looked at her, almost as if he was asking for permission. She nodded slowly as she lifted her arms in the air. Booth pulled gently on the lace and tossed it onto the floor as it was no longer adorning Brennan. He saw her run her tongue across her bottom lip followed by her biting it as he laid her back down against the bed.

Blinking one last time as he stared into her eyes, he moved his gaze to her chest….her perfect, beautiful, amazingly-bare chest. "Dear God," he mumbled to himself as he observed. His chest expanded as he took a deep breath and moved his head towards her ivory skin.

Sending an electrifying feeling through her body, Booth kissed between her breasts, affectionately and lovingly. Moving to the right, his lips wandered up the small mound as his tongue made small circles between his lips. Slowly but surely, he eventually pulled her nipple into his mouth, sucking tenderly on the hardened tip. After spending a while on that particular area, he moved to the left side of her body, showing it the same love and care as he did the right.

Whimpering noises were coming more frequently from Brennan's parted lips as her head was pressed back into the pillow. Grabbing handfuls of his hair, she thought she was going to peak without him ever being inside of her. She had never been given that much love and affection in her entire life.

Booth knew he was going to explode out of his pants if he wasn't released soon. He pressed himself into her wet core as he kissed the valley between her breasts, earning a soft moan from her as her legs opened more, giving him a wider access to Temperance Brennan.

Snaking her hands down his bare chest, she danced her fingers along the square edges of his 'cocky' belt buckle while he peppered her neck with sweet kisses. As she pulled the fastener apart, Booth looked up and noticed her eyes were the clearest shade of blue he had ever seen. He raised his hand to her cheek, brushing his thumb against the rose-colored skin, smiling as he did so.

Booth's eyes opened wide as he felt her unbutton and unzip his pants, taking her sweet time, running her fingernails across his lower abdomen. As she toyed with the waistband of his boxers, his eyes fluttered open and shut as he bit his bottom lip and bowed his head to beside hers. Brennan grinned as she heard a moan come from her partner as he pressed himself into her again and nipped at her earlobe.

Sitting up on his knees again, Booth admired the body below him. Her hands had gone from his waist to gripping the metal headboard while her chest deeply and slowly rose and fell. Running his eyes down her body, he stopped at her legs. The two long limbs were nearly ivory in color as she lay with them spread, her toes coming to a point near the end of the bed.

He ran his hands softly and slowly up from her toes to her hips where her panties were resting against her skin. The black satin material sparkled in the dim light. As his fingers drug across her skin, Booth grinned as he heard her whimper again. He knew she wanted him, and he wanted her just as much in return.

Curving his fingers under the slick material, Booth gently began sliding them down from her hips. Brennan lifted herself off the bed slightly, making it easier for him to reveal all insecurities and vulnerabilities that she kept hidden in her life. As she became exposed, they both realized that there was absolutely no turning back.

His brown eyes pierced hers as he easily removed the material from her legs, tossing it across the room with a grin. Looking back up at him, Brennan smiled a nervous grin. She _wanted_ this, but she was also more terrified than she had ever been in her life.

Tracing her body with his eyes, Booth placed his hands on either side of her shoulders and lowered himself back down to her. As he pressed his lips into hers, he felt one of her legs bend slightly, pressing into his hip. He ran a hand down her body, clutching her waist as he let out a moan.

With her eyes wide, Brennan reached down and pushed the already undone pants off of Booth's waist, causing him to look up from her neck into her eyes. Momentarily rolling over to his side, he removed his pants and boxers the rest of the way and kicked them to the floor. With a grin, he rolled back on top of her, pressing his now-naked throbbing self against her dripping slit.

As she widened her legs, Booth held himself up slightly, smiling down at her. Brennan nodded, biting her lip and placing a hand on both of his shoulders. As she brought her knees up, he aligned himself with her bare core. As the tip of his dick barely pressed against the opening of Temperance Brennan, her fingernails began to dig into his skin. "Booth…" she spoke, causing him to quickly stop what he was doing.

"What?" he asked nervously, his eyes narrowing down at her. "What's wrong? Did I do someth-" She reached up and placed a finger against his lips. Looking over her face, he saw her lips curved upwards.

"I love you," she told him and searched his eyes for approval.

Taking a deep breath, he smiled back. "I love you, too," he promised her. "And I always will." Instead of fighting his answer with her typical 'there's no way you can know that' answer, she decided to simply smile again and nod as he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. Leaving his forehead against hers, he kissed her again. "Are you ready?" he asked softly.

After fluttering her eyes a few times and taking a deep breath, Brennan nodded. He kissed her one last time and held himself back up slightly, realigning himself to her.

Both of their hearts raced as they felt each other meet. Taking a slow deep breath, Brennan's fingernails scraped against Booth's back as he began to slowly push himself into her, knowing not to go full-force. After all…Booth wasn't exactly an "average" man when it came to certain things.

As she felt him fill her core, Brennan let out a slight whimper, biting her lip and squeezing her eyes shut for a second. After opening them back up, Booth saw a tear fall from the corner of her eye. "Are you okay?" he asked, bringing a hand up and caressing her cheek.

Nodding, another tear fell down her cheek and dropped onto Booth's hand. She smiled and gasped as she felt him move a tiny bit. "Perfect," she assured him. "Keep going." Her raspy voice turned him on even more as he brushed a curl behind her ear and kissed her lips.

As he slowly pushed himself into her more, Booth's eyes rolled back in his head as he realized this moment in his life was better than he could have dreamt in a million years. The tightness that surrounded him was throbbing, sending him into an even bigger state of pleasure.

Brennan gripped at Booth's shoulders as she pressed her head back into the pillow. Her toes were curling as he finally got the maximum amount of himself inside of her, making her gasp and moan at the same time. Slowly beginning to thrust, Booth leaned his head down and attached his lips to her jawline.

Her fingers both danced and scratched across his back as he began to pick up a little speed, still going slow, however. Each time the head of his dick hit the wall inside of her, Brennan let out a soft moan, each growing louder compared to the last.

Looking down at her, Booth couldn't help but think about how beautiful she was and how lucky he was. He ran a hand down between them, taking one of her breasts in it. Still pushing himself into her and slowly pulling himself out, he thumbed her nipple, sending off even more nerve endings in her body.

He watched as her mouth opened and closed with each thrust, letting out whimpers alternating with moans. "Oh, God…" she finally spoke, reaching back and gripping the headboard again. With each pounding motion, she got closer and closer to going over the edge.

Booth bowed his head down and gritted his teeth together, knowing he wasn't going to be able to last much longer. "Baby…" he groaned, listening as their bodies made a smacking sound with each thrust.

"Booth…" she gasped, her eyes rolled back. "Soon…" she gasped again, not being able to form full sentences.

"Me, too, baby," he told her in between breaths. "Look at me, baby…" he pleaded, one hand still thumbing at her nipple.

As her head lifted up slightly, Brennan's eyes opened, searching immediately for his. Once she found his gaze, she placed a hand on the back of his neck and another on his head, gripping his hair as he thrust himself into her harder each time. "God, baby…" she moaned, struggling to keep her eyes open as she looked into the chocolate pools of her lover.

Momentarily nuzzling against her neck, Booth whispered, "Let go for me." Lifting his head back up as his lower body still filled Brennan with each move, he locked eyes with her again. "Let go for me, baby…"

"Not," she spoke in a gasp, "Without you…" she finished, running her hand half an inch and grabbing a new fistful as she fought against climaxing.

"I'm there, Tempe…" he told her, lifting a hand and stroking her cheek. "I'm there…"

Finally falling over the edge, Brennan's entire body began to tremble furiously. Her core clamped against Booth's dick in sporadic unstoppable spasms. Letting out a loud moan, her nails scraped against Booth's neck, sending him over the same edge.

As he spilled himself into her, Booth's eyes never left Brennan's. He let out a groan of ecstasy, shaking on top of her as he slowly halted his movements. Both breathless, Booth collapsed on the bed next to Brennan after he carefully and slowly removed himself from her. Their breathing was erratic as their bodies both lied limp.

After catching his breath, Booth turned his head to look at his beautiful partner, and saw her chest still rising and falling heavily. He smiled as he felt her hand clutch his and squeeze. With halfway-closed eyes, Brennan turned her head to look over at Booth.

He grinned as he found her blue eyes in the dim light. "Hey you," he whispered, reaching a hand up and smoothing a section of her messy hair.

Returning the smile, Brennan softly chuckled. "Hey yourself," she replied.

"Come here," he spoke, gently pulling her into his arms. As she rolled to her side, Brennan rested her head against his chest. Booth could feel her breath against his skin as he rubbed his hand across her bare-back, tracing the muscles and bones that he could feel.

She tucked her arms in between them and nuzzled her nose into a crevasse in his chest. Resting his chin on top of her head, Booth sighed after he inhaled the amazing Brennan-smell that he had fallen in love with years previous. After a few moments of silence, Booth spoke up. "Do you have anything to say?" he asked with a chuckle.

Brennan lifted her head up to look at him. Shaking it with a smile, she simply answered, "I'm kind of speechless, is all."

Booth dropped his jaw down, emphasizing his shock. "You mean Temperance Brennan…THE Doctor Temperance Brennan…is _speechless_?"

Laughing, she playfully hit his arm. "I love you," she told him, pressing her lips into his. "I never realized how _real_ emotions can be, but you showed them to me, Booth. You showed me that it's okay to love and be loved in return."

He ran his fingers through her auburn hair and smiled, kissing her forehead, her nose, and finally, her lips. "I love you, Temperance Daesee Brennan. And I'm glad you finally let me show you that it's okay to love and be loved in return."

* * *

After a little while of just talking normally…something that Booth assumed Brennan would never be able to do…she had rolled over, pressing her back into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the back of her neck. "I love you, Temperance."

"Love you, too, Seeley," she replied sleepily. He knew that she was two seconds away from falling asleep so he just smiled and let her. Before he dozed off, Booth would occasionally kiss the top of Brennan's head and inhale her scent just _one_ more time.

Both of them fell asleep rather quickly, but Brennan's eyes fluttered open after she heard a strange noise. Looking at the bedside table, she saw her cell phone lit up. The vibration against the wood table had woken her up. After laying there for a moment, she had _almost_ decided that it wasn't important, however, the scientist side of her decided to look just in case something happened at the lab.

Being slow as she reached over to the table, she didn't want to wake Booth. She had heard him quietly snoring so she knew he was already asleep. Pulling her phone closer to her face, she pushed a button to make it light up again. Sliding her finger across the screen to unlock it, her heart began to race.

She had a new text message – a new text message from a familiar number. Her finger trembled over the "open" button on the screen, not sure if she wanted to open the message for fear it would ruin the perfect night she was having, but knowing that she needed to. Finally tapping the "open" button, a screen popped up, revealing a picture.

The picture immediately brought tears to Brennan's eyes. It showed an absolutely adorable baby girl. The girl's hair was auburn and in curly ringlets scattered across her head, part of them tied together with a delicate pink ribbon. The piercing blue eyes of the girl mocked those of Brennan. And the sundress she had on was a bright pink and lime green color, decorated in flowers and bugs.

But the thing that got her the most was the baby girl's smile – it melted Brennan's heart. She traced her finger along the screen across the baby's cheek as a tear slid down her cheek, however, she couldn't help but smile.

Booth, who was assumed to be asleep, had been watching the entire time. He hadn't moved for fear Brennan would clam up and not tell him anything. But after he heard her sniffle, he kissed the back of her head. "Who is she?" he asked softly, squeezing her tighter.

Taking a deep breath and wiping tears from her cheeks, Brennan squeezed her eyes shut and reopened them. "She's…my daughter."


	13. Are You Awake Now?

****Hey, ya'll :) First, thanks for the reviews! They mean so much to me! This chapter explains the little cliffhanger I threw in the last chapter ;) I tried to keep Brennan as "Brennan" as I could in her explaining everything, not getting too emotional, but allowing some fluctuation there...next chapter, we get to add Parker into the mix :D **

**Disclaimer: Don't own them...**

* * *

As Brennan cried into his chest, Booth didn't know what to do. He finally settled on just holding her, rubbing her back as she let everything out. Knowing that she had probably never broken down _that_ bad, he kissed the top of her head and gave her emotional space. Again, he didn't want to rush things and have her clam up on him.

Once her sobs had slowed, Booth still tracing her back with his fingers, he pushed hair out of her face. He wasn't sure how to approach this for fear he would hurt her even more.

"She's four months old," Brennan's raspy voice finally spoke up. Twirling her hair between his fingers, Booth just listened. "That's why I went to Argentina," she confided.

"Hey," he spoke softly as he gently tilted her chin upward. Her blue eyes were cloudy and red from the crying. "First of all," he smiled sweetly, "I love you. I will no matter what has happened previously or what happens in the future." Brennan's eyes squeezed shut, but reopened quickly. "And secondly, you don't have to talk about this if you don't want to, sweetheart."

Sitting up in the bed, hugging the sheet to her still-bare chest, Brennan looked over and down at Booth. "I want to tell you," she whispered. "I _need_ to tell you."

Booth sat up and leaned against the headboard, pulling her into his side as she pulled her knees up to her chest. "After that day," she spoke, shuddering at the memory of Booth walking away, "I was…upset…to say the least. I went home that night and saw that Sully had prepared dinner for me."

Booth quietly clenched his teeth shut, _knowing_ that if he was given the chance, he would probably kill Sully. He smiled as he saw Brennan looking up at him with a look of concern in her blue eyes. "Go ahead, baby," he urged calmly. "I'm not mad."

"Well," she continued, taking a deep breath. "That night after dinner, things led to other things." She reminded herself that she needed to keep it PG, otherwise Booth was going to fly off the hinges. "The next day, I went to work as usual. I compartmentalized everything, like I always do, and knew that jumping back cranium first into work was the best thing."

Chuckling, he kissed her forehead. "After working for a while, a few weeks at least…or that's what Angela told me…I began feeling sick, so I scheduled an appointment. "

"Why did Angela have to tell you how long you had been at work?" he asked, probably already knowing the answer, but he wanted her to explain it just in case he was wrong.

"She had to tell me because I honestly didn't have any recollection of time passing," Brennan sighed. "But after I became sick, Ange talked me into going to see a doctor. And the doctor," her voice began getting softer, "Informed me that I was with child."

As he pulled her in closer to him, Booth sighed quietly, resting his head on top of hers. "Why did you decide to go to Argentina?"

Looking up at him, Brennan's eyes were filled with tears. "Some colleagues of mine, Katherine and Andrew Simmons, had been married for several years without ever being able to conceive a child. They live in Argentina."

Booth realized she was about to break down again, so he reached out a hand and softly lifted her chin towards him. "Just take a deep breath," he whispered, kissing her lips.

Brennan did as she was told and exhaled before continuing. "I talked with Angela and Sweets," she rolled her eyes making Booth chuckle to himself. "Angela told me that no matter what I decided, she would, direct quote, back my play. And while I wasn't sure what it meant, I had an idea. Sweets told me that even though it's a hard choice to make, I had to decide whether or not I was keeping the baby."

As a tear fell down her cheek, Booth kissed it away, pulling her still naked body even closer to him. "I just wasn't ready for a child," she explained through a soft sob. Sniffling and sitting back up straight, she composed herself. "I reasonably decided that if I was not, in fact, ready for a child and my colleagues were, that the logical choice was to let them raise the baby."

Noticing that she was staring into dark space, Booth recognized it as that look she got while she was allowing herself time to compartmentalize everything correctly. "It's okay to show emotions, sweetheart. I'm the only one here," he assured her. "You can trust me."

With that being said, Brennan collapsed even further into his side letting out cry after cry, sob after sob. Holding her was the only thing that Booth knew to do, so that's what he did. Cooing in her ear every once in a while seemed to calm her down quicker as he promised that he loved her and that it's okay to be human and show emotions.

After completely letting go, Temperance Brennan actually thought she felt better about things. She sat up straight again as Booth traced shapes on her bare arm and smiled down at her with empathy and love. "You said she is four months old?" he asked, earning a nod from her. "Have you seen her since…you know…"

Brennan shook her head and bowed it in shame. "How could I face her again, Booth? I'm a coward for not even giving myself a chance to take care of her." He heard the tears building back up as she rested her forehead against her arm, which was propped on her knees.

"Hey, look at me for a second," he requested, gently pulling her chin upward. As her watery blue eyes met his, he smiled. "It's okay to not be ready to take care of a kid, Tempe. You were 31 years old. By that age, you know very well what you can and cannot handle in your life. Giving someone else the privilege of being a parent and giving a kid a chance at having an amazing family only tells me that you, Temperance Daesee Brennan," he pointed at her chest, "YOU have a heart."

By the end of his little speech, Brennan had tears rolling down her face, hitting the sheet below, as she smiled up at him. "Thanks, Booth."

"You don't have to thank me, baby," he assured her, pressing his lips against hers.

"I'm sorry for ruining our night," she told him, her blue eyes fluttering open and shut as she stared into his eyes.

Chuckling, Booth leaned over and kissed her neck slowly. "You didn't ruin _anything_," he promised her. "After all, I got to make amazing, wonderful, extraordinary love to the woman that I'm in love with." Brennan smiled through her tears as Booth returned to her neck. "One last thing," he said, sitting back up straight.

"Hmm?" she asked, climbing onto his lap and straddling his hardening dick.

"If you ever decide you want to go see her and you don't mind…I'll go with you."

Smiling, Brennan nodded as she bit her bottom lip. "I'd like that," she whispered, leaning in to kiss him deeply. "I'd like that a lot, Seeley."

* * *

As his eyes slowly opened, Booth squinted to keep the sun out of them as he searched the room for a clock. Finally finding one, he saw that it was 10:04 and smiled. They had made it through their first _amazing_ night of sex together and even got to sleep in the next morning.

He looked down and grinned as he saw the sleeping scientist curled into his chest, both still without clothes from the night before. While he watched her sleep, her chest rising and falling slowly and evenly, Booth couldn't help but think about how lucky he actually was.

Eventually, though, Brennan's eyes fluttered open and slowly looked up at the brown eyes greeting her. "Morning," he whispered, kissing her forehead.

Letting out a groan, she nuzzled her head back into his chest and tucked her arms between them. Booth chuckled and pulled the blanket over her shoulders, rewrapping his arms around her as soon as he was able to. Knowing that she wasn't a morning person, he didn't rush her to wake up. He ran his hands across her back, tracing the outlines of her muscles and bones, sending chills up and down her entire body.

After a few minutes of her eyes opening and shutting slowly as she inhaled his manly scent, she lifted her head and smiled shyly at Booth. "Are you awake now?" he asked softly, laughing to himself.

"Not by choice," she mumbled and pressed her lips into him.

Smiling, he kissed her again. "How'd you sleep, beautiful?"

"Very well, considering we only gave in to sleep a few hours ago."

Booth grinned as he remembered the night before…every move, every moan…he was in complete heaven. Staring down into her slate-blue eyes, he kissed her forehead and pulled her closer to him.

"I suppose we should leave soon," she suggested, stretching her arms out from under the blanket.

"But I don't want to," Booth pouted, earning a raised eyebrow from Brennan. He chuckled and brushed a curl behind her ear. "Have you had a good time?"

Nodding with a Brennan-y grin, she ran a hand down his bare chest. Batting her eyes as she bit her bottom lip, she began to roll out of the bed. "I'm going to take a hot shower," she informed him, glancing over her shoulder with a seductive glare.

Without another word, Booth followed her naked body out of the bed, grabbing her hips before she ever got to the bathroom and pulling her into him. Spinning her around, his lips crashed into her neck as they backed into the wall. Brennan reached a hand out in search of the bathroom light switch, eventually finding it and flipping it on.

Backing her into the bathroom as his lips found hers, Booth guided them over to the shower. He momentarily reached down and flipped the water on. "How hot?" he asked, only breaking their lips apart for half a second.

"Very," Brennan replied in a gasp as his had roamed her naked body, gripping pretty much anything he could grab onto. As his hand made its way down to her core, he thumbed at her clit as he lifted her over the side of the bathtub. "God," she moaned as he rubbed faster, making her legs shake as the water beat down onto her.

Booth climbed in the tub after her and pulled the shower curtain shut, immediately attaching his hand back to her breast while his other sent chills up her spine. His lips sucked and nipped at her neck as she propped one of her feet on the side of the tub. "Booth…" she gasped, her hands running up and down his back.

"Yeah, baby?" he asked, only removing his lips from hers for a second before reattaching them to her wet skin.

"I need you in me," she told him in between breaths as he pressed himself into her repetitively. Grabbing a handful of his hair, Brennan's head leaned back against the cold tile wall as he continued to thumb the bundle of nerves. "Please, Booth…" she begged.

"Are you sure?" he teased, rubbing the head of his dick against her opening.

"Now!" she commanded, clenching her teeth as her eyes rolled back.

Pushing himself into her, Booth gasped at the same time as Brennan, lowering his head as he easily filled her entirely. After wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned down and nibbled at his jawline. Continuing to thrust into her, Booth groaned with every movement.

Brennan wrapped her long leg around his waist while sucking at his skin and scraping her nails against his back. The water still beat down on them making their movements smooth as he pushed himself deeper and deeper inside of her soaking wet core.

"Christ, baby," he grunted feeling her muscles contract around his throbbing cock making it harder for him to hold out. Lowering herself onto him as he lifted up into her, she dug her fingernails into his shoulder.

Reaching up, Booth grabbed both of her breasts in his hands and pinched her hard nipples, causing her to whimper as he continued to pump himself against her body. "Soon," she warned him as her eyes ran up and down his body. She bit her bottom lip as she felt herself nearing the edge, knowing she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. "Look at me, Booth," she demanded, her mouth open as she let out a moan.

As she gripped his jaw and turned his head towards her, his brown eyes opened and he looked at the beautiful wet body in front of him as he let out a moan. "Fuck, baby," he clenched his teeth, thrusting into her harder and harder.

Booth wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her closer to him, and groaned. Without warning, Brennan gasped as her body began to shake against his, squeezing his dick as she fell over the edge. "God!" she screamed, her blue eyes locked on his as he followed her over the edge, giving her as much of himself as he could.

As he slowly stopped thrusting, they both tried to catch their breath as Brennan's limp body was being supported by Booth. "God, baby," he breathed heavily against her neck, kissing his way to her lips.

"I love you," she told him in between breaths, smiling as best she could.

Booth pressed his lips into hers and grinned as he saw her wet, tangled auburn hair messily scattered across her shoulders. "I love you, too, baby."

* * *

A few hours later, the dynamic duo arrived back at Brennan's apartment and collapsed on the couch. Running his hand through her hair, Booth smiled as he took a deep breath. "I get Parker for the weekend tomorrow," he told her, kissing her temple.

"What does that mean for us?" she asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Well, one of two things can happen," he told her.

"I'm sure there are more than two things, Booth," she corrected.

Booth shook his head with a chuckle and kissed her forehead. "Too literal, Bones." Making an "oh" with her mouth, Brennan decided to just listen. "First, I can pick Parker up and take him to my place, not telling him about us." Brennan frowned, not wanting to go without seeing Booth for two whole days. "Or, I can pick him up and we can tell him about us and pray he takes it well."

"Oh, I vote for choice B," she told him cockily.

Laughing, Booth brushed his thumb against her cheek. "Why is that?"

"Parker loves me, Booth. Even _I_ picked up on that."

"I know that, Bones. I just don't want to push him into this and think I'm replacing my time with him by spending time with you."

Nodding in agreement, Brennan rested her head against Booth's shoulder. "I think that Parker is old enough to know that I'm not replacing your time with him. He acts older than you give him credit for, Booth," she informed him. "We should just tell him the truth."

"For once, Temperance Brennan, I believe you are correct."

Brennan lifted her head up and raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm always right, Booth. I thought you knew that already." His eyes narrowed as he shifted his weight on the couch. "I'm just joking, Booth," she chuckled.

Shaking his head and laughing, Booth smiled. "You are something else, Bones." Noticing the confused look on her face, he kissed between her eyes. "But I absolutely love whatever it is that you are," he assured her. "And tomorrow," he kissed her lips, "We'll tell Parker that we're together."


	14. Now Youre Worried About Parker Sleeping?

**I can't even begin to describe how much I suck, yall. Just imagine all the apologies in the world and multiply them by 94...THAT'S how sorry I am for not updating in for-freaking-ever! I graduated college and had to start doing the grown up thing and get a job, ha! Working with bratty kids all day kind of makes you not want to do squat when you get home at nearly dark other than sleep lol.**

**Regardless...This chapter has Parker in it :) I love Parker. He's so fun! Him and Brennan kind of begin to show their bond, but we'll get more into that in the next chapter ;) Oh yeah, due to my suckiness, I added some unplanned smut into the mix :) **

**They aren't mine, sadly...**

* * *

The next afternoon, a young, floppy-haired boy ran into the Jeffersonian. As he passed Cam, he was greeted with "Walking feet, Parker!"

Immediately slowing down, Parker's cheeks flushed. "Sorry, Dr. Cam." Rounding the corner as he watched over his shoulder, he saw that he was no longer in Cam's sight. Taking off running again, Parker came to a complete stop on his tippy toes as his father stood with his hands on his hips, eyebrow cocked.

Booth cleared his throat, but never said a word. Parker groaned and rolled his eyes. "But…how…ugh…You were behind me! How did you get all the way up here?" his son asked.

Chuckling, Booth took Parker under his arm. "I'm an FBI Agent, Parks. Stealth-mode is a highly complicated skill and talent."

"Yeah…or you just cheat and take shortcuts that I haven't learned yet," Parker huffed under his breath. Booth let out a laugh as they entered Brennan's office.

Looking up from a stack of papers blocking her view, Brennan smiled as she noticed mini-Booth dropping his backpack at her door. "Dr. Bones?" he asked, not able to find her behind the mountain of papers.

Brennan chuckled and stood up. "Parker!" she greeted. She wasn't really sure why kids enjoyed such enthusiasm, but she figured that since Parker put up with her science-y stuff, she could at least humor him with exaggerated words and movements.

Crashing into her side, Parker squeezed his arms around her. "Where have you been, Dr. Bones?" he asked, mimicking a grown up's tone.

"Well, I went to go look at some old bones for some people in South America. But I'm back now," she assured him, glancing up towards Booth with a smile. "What have you been doing? How's school?" she asked, guiding him over to the couch.

Before he started telling her all about his 8 year old life, they heard someone call for Booth across the lab. Brennan and Parker looked up as Booth rolled his eyes. "I can't get one dang minute with my kid and my Bones," he grumbled as he walked out of the office, making both people on the couch chuckle.

"School is great, life is great," Parker started. "Are you and my dad going out now?" he asked, point blank.

Stunned for a split second, Brennan's jaw dropped. Shaking her head to snap her out of the temporary shock, she began to stutter. "Um…well…uh…"

"Oh, just tell me, Dr. Bones. I AM 8 years old," he reminded her.

Brennan laughed and affectionately placed her hand on his. "If I tell you, you have to keep it the biggest secret you ever kept. Think you can do that?" she asked, getting more on his level. Nodding furiously, the boy's eyes grew as big as saucers. "Yes, Parker. Your father and I are dating. BUT!" she interjected, "He wants to tell you tonight, so don't be blowing my cover!"

Parker became almost giddy as he giggled and grinned. "I promise, I won't say a word. I'll act so surprised when dad tells me!" he swore. Brennan just chuckled as she realized how excited he actually was, and how pissed Booth was potentially going to be because she told Parker without him.

"Alright, guys," Booth said as he reentered her office, clapping his hands together once. "Time for some food!"

Brennan followed Parker as he climbed off of the couch and walked towards the door. As he leaned over to get his backpack, Parker saw someone in the lab. "Aunt Angie!" he yelled, realizing he hadn't seen her in months.

Booth flinched as he saw Parker crash into Angela but chuckled as she took a few steps back to get her balance. Looking back into Brennan's office, he smiled as she approached him. She glanced out of her office door for a split second, but moved her eyes right back to his chocolate ones.

Lightly pressing a hand against his chest, she got on her tippy toes and pressed her lips to his cheek. Falling back flat-footed, Brennan attempted to walk towards her desk, being stopped by something pulling at her wrist.

She looked back and smiled as Booth pulled her to him, moving them both a few feet away from the door way. "What are you doing, Booth?" she asked, already knowing the answer as he wrapped his arms around her small waist.

Without a word, Booth leaned down, parted her lips with his tongue, and pressed himself into her even more, letting out a soft groan as he felt himself harden under his clothing. Pulling back and darting her eyes towards the door and back at him, Brennan smirked. "We need to go, Booth." He pulled her back to him and traced his lips across her forehead.

"Only if you promise there will be more of _this_ later," he whispered, peppering her temple and neck with kisses.

"If we get caught, I can promise you won't get anything at all for a good long while," she whispered back as he brushed his lips behind her ear, _knowing_ what he was doing to her.

Leaning his head back, Booth grinned his Boothy grin and loosened his grip around Brennan's waist. As she began to walk off, he lightly smacked her ass, making her spin around with a finger pointed at him. "Seeley Joseph Booth," she warned, suddenly letting out a squeal as Booth spun her around and dipped her, leaving her halfway hanging upside down. "_Booth_…" she groaned with a chuckle, trying to look up at him.

"Just making sure you know I'm not afraid of you," he smirked and kissed her again, pulling her back up.

"Regardless of that having nothing to do with anything going on here, you should be afraid of me," she told him as she walked towards her desk.

With a chuckle, Booth crossed his arms and leaned back against the doorframe. "And why's that, Bones?"

Shrugging as she picked her bag up off of her chair, folding her coat over her arm. She walked casually past him and spoke, "Because I have the intelligence and capabilities to kill you and nobody would _ever_ find your body."

For half a second, Booth was frozen by the sincerity in her voice, but quickly pulled himself out of the daze and followed her across the lab. "Parks! Come on!" he called out, spinning around and taking a few backwards steps until he saw his son running out of Angela's office.

* * *

Sitting at the local diner, Booth sat across from Brennan and Parker. Swiping a fry through a blob of ketchup, he could feel the butterflies in his enter chest and stomach. He _knew_ that Parker loved Brennan and he _knew_ that it wasn't going to be a big deal, but he just couldn't seem to convince himself to believe it. "So, Parks…how was school this week?" he asked, nervously.

Parker, digging into a greasy cheeseburger, shrugged. "It was alright. I got a girlfriend. Do you have one yet?" he asked bluntly, causing his dad to choke on the sip of water that he had in his mouth.

Chuckling to herself, Brennan chose to stay out of the conversation until her presence was required. "Um…wait…what?" Booth stuttered as he still sputtered a little.

"Do you. Have a. Girlfriend." Parker spoke slowly, breaking it down for his dad before he took another bite of burger.

Nervously eyeing Brennan, his eyes narrowed as he concealed a smile. In a split second, he noticed the smile hidden on her face and the relaxation that was spread over her. "Well, Parks…uh…yeah," Booth finally admitted, waiting and watching for any kind of reaction.

"Really? That's so awesome, dad!" Parker over-exaggerated with big facial expressions. "Who is it? Do I know her? Is she hott?" Brennan's stare caught Booth's attention as the corners of her mouth because more visibly lifted. Poking around at the salad in front of her, she raised her eyebrows with a slight chuckle.

"Um…you know her, very well, actually." Booth drug another french fry through the ketchup.

"It's not Hannah, is it? I didn't like her too much," his son confided.

"No," Booth quickly answered. "Actually…" he spoke and placed his hand on top of Brennan's that was on top of the table. Brennan turned her head and winked at the kid.

"Dr. Bones is your girlfriend? SWEET!" Parker exclaimed.

Booth raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. "Bones?" he asked.

"Hmm?" she looked up as she rubbed the side of his hand with her thumb.

"Did you just wink at Parker?"

Narrowing her eyes as she looked back and forth between Booth and Parker, she shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about, Booth. Do you know, Parker?"

"Nope, I didn't see anything," the kid agreed, nonchalantly digging into his last french fry.

Rolling his eyes as he chuckled, Booth threw his napkin on the table and sighed. "We almost done? I figured we could rent some DVDs before we head home."

"Today is just awesome!" Parker whisper-yelled, more to himself than to the two adults.

* * *

"Parker, I swear…if you're scared tonight after watching this movie…" Booth warned, pretty much for his own conscience, to say he had, in fact, tried to put his foot down. His son had picked…and _begged_…to watch some new monster movie with a slimy villain that ate small children.

Tossing her bag and jacket onto a chair in his kitchen, Brennan smiled as she approached Booth, wrapping her arms slowly around his waist. "Hey, beautiful," he whispered before his lips touched the top of her head.

"I'm not sure I can stay awake through the movie," Brennan chuckled, leaning into him even more.

"You can fall asleep on me, then," he told her with a wink as he reached down and grabbed her ass.

As she looked up with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on her face, Brennan shook her head, deciding just to let that one go. Reaching up and kissing him, she smiled as she landed back on flat feet. "You better be glad I love you," she informed him as she began to walk towards his bedroom. "I'm going to change into some pajamas."

Booth shook his head with a grin on his face as he loosened his tie and flung his jacket over the couch. "Got the movie ready, Parks?" he asked, plopping down on the couch.

"Yup," his son replied. "Can I fix popcorn?"

"Go for it, bud," Booth told him. "Three minutes in the microwave." Parker plodded into the kitchen as he hummed a song.

Before long, Brennan reappeared and sat herself down beside Booth. Her hair was now up in a ponytail, revealing her long, slender neck. Booth couldn't help himself as he leaned over and attached his lips against her ivory skin. "Booth…" she halfway groaned. "Parker's in the kitchen."

"And?" he asked, moving up to her lips. As she gave into his persistence, Booth wrapped an arm around her nearly bare shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

Brennan gently nibbled on Booth's bottom lip as they both heard, "Gross! Get a room!"

Chuckling as they pulled apart, Booth flipped the switch on the lamp beside him, causing the whole room to go black with the exception of the tv. "Remember that none of this is real, Parks," he reminded his son.

"I know," the kid groaned and plopped down into the middle of the living room floor with his giant bowl of popcorn.

* * *

Sometime throughout the movie, Brennan had fallen asleep on top of Booth on the couch and had been covered up with a blanket. She woke up slowly as he felt someone shaking her arm. "Bones," Booth whispered, pressing his lips to her forehead.

"Hmm?" she barely responded as she moved her head just enough to look up at him.

"The movie is over…let's get to bed," he told her and wagged his eyebrows at her.

Brennan laughed lightly as she carefully sat up, moving so Booth could also sit up. "Where's Parker?" she asked, looking around the dark room.

"He's in the floor asleep. I'm the only one who made it through the movie without crashing," he laughed. "Head on to the bedroom while I carry him to his room, huh?" he asked, standing up and reaching a hand out for her. Putting her hand in his, Brennan stood up and stretched, revealing a bare torso where her tank top had risen. Not being able to help himself, Booth ran a hand across her stomach and pulled her to him. "I just can't get enough of you," he whispered, pressing his lips into hers.

"Then carry Parker to his bed and come on," she told him as seductively as she could while being as tired as she was.

"Yes, mam," he agreed and kissed her one more time. Being careful not to step on his son, Booth reached down and pulled Parker into his arms. '_My God, he's 8…how does he weigh so much?'_ Booth asked himself as he carried the kid to his own bed.

Placing him in the bed and pulling the covers over him, Booth ran his hand across the boy's head and smiled. "Night, Parks," he whispered.

"Night, Dad," Parker whispered back without opening his eyes as he rolled to his side. Smiling, Booth turned a nightlight on and left the room, shutting the door as he did so.

Unbuttoning his dress shirt as he approached his own bedroom, Booth's jaw dropped as he entered the room. His eyes ran across the floor, up the bed, and straight to the naked woman, her important parts being barely covered by a thin sheet. "Holy…" he whispered as he threw his shirt across the room with one hand and closed…and locked…the door with the other hand.

He flipped the lights off and unbuckled his belt as he approached the bed, watching her silhouette in the moon light that was streaming in from the window. He walked out of his pants and began his ascent on top of her. "Is this what you wanted?" she asked as he hovered above her, pulling his undershirt off in the process.

"You have no idea," Booth mumbled as his lips began to trace her bare skin. He ran his tongue down her neck to her left breast, taking the right one in his hand. Sucking and nipping gently at the nipple, Booth looked up to see Brennan's eyes roll back.

Thumbing at her other nipple, Booth began to kiss his way down to her navel, circling it with his tongue as he moved his hand down her side, eventually stopping at the wet slit that he had been wanting so badly. She let out a slight gasp and began to squirm underneath him, anticipating what was about to…"Oh, God…" she gasped as he slid a finger into her wetness.

Booth smirked as he kissed his way even lower, paying special attention to her inner thighs. Her legs arched up as she quivered, Brennan reached back and grabbed one of the bars of the headboard. She let out an inaudible noise as he finally slid his tongue up her slit.

As she reached down and grabbed onto a handful of his hair, Brennan's back arched and her toes curled. "Booth…" she moaned, squirming beneath him as his tongue ran up and down her slit, occasionally stopping to focus more on the tingling bundle of nerves that he wanted…no, _needed_…him to pay attention to.

Booth grinned as he noticed her tensing up every time he sucked gently on her clit. He ran a hand up and down her chest, grabbing onto her nipples with each trip. "Booth…" she gasped again. "I'm gonna…" she breathed heavily.

"Let go, Temperance…" he whispered, sliding another finger into her slit as he continued to focus his lips and tongue on her bud. She squirmed under him as he continued his work. "Come on, baby…" he urged, immediately reattaching his lips to her clit.

"Oh….God…" she moaned as she began to clamp onto Booth's fingers that were inside of her. Booth grinned as he continued and as Brennan's body twitched underneath him. Her death-grip on the headboard finally eased up as her entire body relaxed. She didn't understand why she so suddenly couldn't last more than a few minutes, but she conceded to the idea that it was just a new fact of life since she was with Booth.

After sucking his fingers clean, Booth slowly kissed his way, nibbling occasionally, back up her torso until he was eventually back to being face-to-face with her. He rolled to his side and watched as her chest rose and fell repeatedly in a very quick manner.

Suddenly rolling over, Brennan pushed Booth flat onto the bed with a grin spreading across her face. "Whoa…" he chuckled, letting her have control. She pushed his arms above his head and held them there as she leaned herself down to his jawline. "I love this side of you," he breathed heavily as her lower body began to grind against his.

Aggressively sucking at his neck and earlobe, Brennan reached down under her and ran a finger along the shaft of Booth's dick through the thin boxer material, making his eyes roll back and his heart stop. She grinned as she rotated her hips against him and nibbled her way to his chest.

Gently but quickly, she pulled Booth's hard rod out of the slit in his boxers and grinned, still straddling him. "Do you want me?" she asked, her voice raspy.

"Hell, uh…hell yeah…" he mumbled, trying not to lose it as she circled the tip with a finger.

Brennan leaned down to his ear and nipped his earlobe "Tell me you want me," she demanded, running her tongue and lips along his jawline.

"Oh, God…I want you, baby…" he promised, his hand gripping at her thigh as he tried to contain himself.

With a smirk on her face, Brennan quickly and easily pushed herself down on top of him, making them both gasp in ecstasy as he filled her. "Holy shit," Booth mumbled, biting his lip to keep quiet.

Moving herself up and down on his shaft, Brennan's breasts began to bounce in rhythm with her movements. Booth reached up with a hand and pulled at one of her nipples as his toes began to curl. He realized he wasn't going to last much longer.

As she moved her hips around in a circular motion, Brennan leaned back, giving Booth a full view of the work she was doing. "Oh my God," he groaned between breaths. He watched her press herself onto him and saw all the facial expressions she was showing.

"Babe," he gripped at one of her thighs again. "Soon," he breathed heavily. Nodding, Brennan leaned forward and rested her forehead against his. "Look at me, Temperance," Booth begged, only a few moments from going over the edge.

Her blue eyes opened, staring into his just in time for her to take the plunge for the second time. As she squeezed him with her own orgasm, Booth exploded into her as he moved his hips beneath her. "Oh, God," she groaned, feeling the hot rush going into her.

Booth crashed his lips into hers, remembering that they had to be quiet, as he went from having convulsions to just heavily breathing. Brennan, hunched over, her head in the crevice between his head and neck, kissed behind his ear one last time before she gently rolled off of him.

Both still catching their breath, Booth pulled the sheet over their naked bodies as he propped himself up on one elbow and smiled down at her, exhaustedly. "You're amazing," he whispered, kissing her cheek.

Grinning, Brennan rolled to her side to face him. "Can I go back to sleep now?" she asked, trying to conceal her smile. Booth lightly traced his fingers over her bare side, making her squirm and laugh. "Booth!" she quietly reprimanded. "Parker's asleep! None of that!"

"Oh, _now_ you're worried about Parker sleeping?" Booth teased, pulling her closer to him.

"Just shut up and kiss me," she instructed with a chuckle, placing a hand on the back of his head and pulling him towards her.

As their lips met, Booth could feel Brennan smiling as they kissed. Spreading her lips with his tongue, they both stopped immediately when they heard Parker let out a horrific scream from the other room. "Crap," Booth groaned. "I was hoping for no nightmares tonight."


	15. I Didn't Ask What Day It Was

****So, I'm not even going to do the whole "I'm so sorry thing!" because I think, by now, you guys know how much I apparently suck at updating regularly. Good intentions, just too much crap going on in my life to follow through :( However, the last reviews were awesome...as per usual ;) Oh, and who else is in LOVE with preggo-Bones and daddy-Booth? SO CUTE!**

**Don't own them.****

* * *

"Parker! Parker, wake up!" Booth shook his son as he thrashed about in his bed. "PARKER!" he spoke more firmly, causing his son to open his eyes. Fighting against whatever was touching him, Parker wasn't sure where he was until he saw his dad. "Hey, bud, come'mere," Booth told him, pulling his son to his chest. He could feel the little boy's body shaking.

Brennan had slipped on a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt before she joined the party in Parker's bedroom. But upon seeing Booth embracing Parker, she decided to just prop against the doorway and watch.

"You have a nightmare?" Booth asked, rubbing Parker's back. Parker nodded his head as tears streamed down his face. "Want me to get you a glass of water?" Booth asked, earning another nod.

As Booth passed Brennan at the door, she saw the sadness in his eyes. Of course he had warned Parker about being scared after the movie, but to actually see his son terrified, it broke his heart. Brennan placed her hand on his arm as he walked past her.

Brennan slowly approached the scared little boy and sat on the edge of his bed beside him. "What was the nightmare about?" she asked, her eyes narrowing as Parker fell into her side.

"It was horrible, Dr. Bones!" Parker began as Brennan wrapped her arms around him. "The monster was eating my mom and then he was looking for me and I was under my bed but he found me!" his sentence ran on for a while. Brennan just listened. "After he found me, he told me that he was going to eat me, too, and then he was going after my dad and you!"

With a gentle smile, Brennan pulled back slightly to look down at him. "Parker…you like science, right?" she asked, confusing the little boy.

"Yeah, of course," he answered, looking up into her blue eyes.

"Well, Parker…" she took his hands in hers, unknowingly being watched by Booth. "When you like science, you believe in real things. Science means that it can be proven without a doubt." Parker nodded. "And monsters like the one in the movie…they're not real, Parks," she told him with a soft smile. "It's a man in a costume…you know, like Mickey Mouse at Disney Land," she reasoned.

"So…it's okay to be afraid of real things?" he asked.

"Definitely," Brennan replied. "What are some real things that have been proved by science that you're afraid of?"

"Um…" he thought, "Sharks…spiders…" he shuddered, "Sometimes thunder…"

"And all those things are things that you can see, feel, and measure, right?"

Parker nodded, pulling his knees to his chest.

"That monster from the movie," she told him, "You can't see him, feel him, or measure him in any way because he's not real."

Thinking for a moment, Parker eventually lifted his head towards Brennan. "So…only believing in real things…does that make me a scientist?"

Chuckling, Brennan nodded. "Sure does," she confirmed as Booth decided to sit on the other side of the bed. He handed the glass of water to his son and smiled over at Brennan.

"You feel better now, Parks?" Booth asked, taking the glass back from him.

Parker nodded with a smile as he climbed over to give his dad and Brennan a hug. "Tons," he assured his dad. "I believe in real things, not fake things," he told his dad proudly.

Booth chuckled, kissed the top of Parker's head, and guided Brennan out of the bedroom. "Goodnight, Parks. Come get us if you need us, ok bud?"

"Goodnight Dad and Dr. Bones!" Parker called out as he settled back in his bed.

Letting out a deep breath, Booth smiled over at Brennan as he pulled her into his side. "That was great, Bones," he whispered before he kissed her temple. "Let's get back to bed, huh?" he suggested, resting his hand on the small of Brennan's back as she walked through the bedroom door.

As Booth turned around from shutting the door, he saw Temperance standing in front of him topless. "What are you waiting for?" she asked, her hand propped on her hip. "It's time for the second trial!"

"I think you mean round two," he chuckled as he pressed into her, his hand pressed against the small of her back. "And I'm not sure what's gotten into you," he kissed her neck as he laid her back on the bed, "But I can't say I don't like it…"

* * *

The next morning, Booth and Brennan were awoken by the hungry 8 year old in the hallway. Parker had been knocking on the door for ten minutes before they ever heard him. After all, the two adults in the apartment were up fairly late doing what adults do after dark.

Booth groaned as he finally realized the repetitive noise was his son knocking at the door. Brennan rolled to face Booth, her eyes still squeezed shut to avoid the light creeping in. "Five more minutes, Parks!" Booth called out.

His head fell back onto his pillow as he heard Parker stomp down the hallway. "I'm so sleepy," Brennan groaned, curling herself into Booth's side.

"And I'm not?" Booth chuckled. "I was just as involved as you were in your random bouts of horniness last night, Bones." At midnight, two-thirty-four, and five-forty-seven, Brennan had woken Booth up by a series of different ways…running her hand up and down his chest, kissing his neck, and even full on mounting him. While they were wonderful ways to wake up, Booth wasn't used to being _needed_ that much.

"You weren't complaining last night," she reminded him, finding his neck with her lips.

"Okay, enough of that," Booth told her and laughed as he pulled his neck out of reach of her. "If you get me started, it'll be a lot longer than the five minutes I told Parker to wait."

Brennan laughed and conceded. "So what are we doing today?"

"It's Saturday, Bones!" Booth announced happily.

With a raised eyebrow, Brennan thought for a moment. Nope, still nothing. "I know that," she told him. "I didn't ask what day it was."

Pressing his lips to her forehead, Booth held in a laugh. "Saturday means football games!"

"Games? As in plural?" Brennan asked, rolling her eyes and letting her head fall back onto her pillow.

Laughing, Booth leaned over and buried his nose in her neck as his lips set her skin on fire. "It's a tradition for Parker and me, Bones," he tried to reason with her, his brown eyes now surveying her face.

With a smirk, Brennan chuckled and shook her head. "Fine," she complained. "But next weekend, we're doing something _I_ like."

"And what would that be, Dr. Brennan?" Booth mocked with his Booth-y grin.

"You'll have to wait and see," she whispered, cupping his cheek with her hand as she leaned up and pressed her lips to his.

"I think I like where this is going," Booth mumbled as Brennan pushed him onto his back.

As Brennan began to trace his jawline with her lips, she was stopped abruptly. "Dad!" Parker yelled from outside the door. "Come ON!"

With his head falling back into his pillow as he let out a groan, Booth smiled over at Brennan. "We'll finish this later," he promised, kissing her one last time before he got out of the bed.

* * *

As Booth pulled a t-shirt over his head, he left the bedroom, pulling the door shut behind him to give Brennan some privacy to get dressed appropriately. "What's for breakfast, bud?" Booth asked his son as he entered the kitchen, flinching as his bare feet hit the cold tile floor.

"Pancakes!" Parker yelled out from the living room.

Before long, Brennan, who was now dressed in pajama pants and a t-shirt and her hair in a ponytail, joined Booth in the kitchen. "You're cooking?" she asked, eyes wide.

"Yes mam," he replied, bending over and kissing her cheek as he poured flour into a bowl. "Pancakes."

"Sounds good," she admitted with a smile. "Want coffee?" she asked, reaching up for a mug.

"Mhmm," he replied with a smile as he began to stir the dry ingredients.

Brennan poured two cups of the steaming liquid, shutting the cabinet door afterwards. "What can I do to help?" she asked, sitting her mug on the counter after taking a sip.

Booth grinned, leaning over and kissing her as he cupped her cheek. "Just sit there and look pretty," he told her.

Running into the kitchen as his dad went back to the pancake ingredients, Parker stopped with a raised eyebrow. "Why do you have stuff on your face, Dr. Bones?" he asked, shaking his head and reaching for a small cup out of the dish-drainer.

"What stuff on my face?" Brennan asked, taking a couple of steps and stopping in front of a mirror. There was a nearly perfect handprint against her cheek in the flour that she noticed was covering Booth's hands.

"Why'd you have to tell on me, kid?" Booth asked him with a chuckle, keeping his eye on Brennan.

With a grin, she brushed the flour from her cheek and resumed her place leaning against the counter behind Booth as she wrapped her hands around the coffee mug. "I thought that's what you're supposed to do when someone has something on their face?" Parker asked, carefully putting the milk back into the refrigerator.

Booth rolled his eyes as Parker trotted back into the living room, but still keeping his eyes on Brennan. "Aren't you going to retaliate?" he asked, cracking an egg into the bowl.

"Nope," she replied sweetly, smiling through the steam of her coffee.

Pinching his eyebrows together, Booth wasn't sure if he needed to believe her or not. He stirred the pancake mixture, and then reached down to get a skillet, placing it on the stove as he stood back up. By the time he was back upright, Brennan had moved to his side the counters and was wrapping her arms around his neck. "Well, hello…" he chuckled, wrapping his arms around her waist. "What's this for?"

As soon as his question left his lips, he had an answer. Brennan apparently had an egg in her hand as she was hugging him. The egg was now cracked and running through his hair, down his head. He kept his arms around her as he began to chuckle. "You've done it now…" he warned as she attempted to wiggle free of his grasp, laughing as she tried to push herself away from him.

"Booth…" she spoke next to his neck, still trying to get loose. "Booth, please…" she begged as felt something hitting the top of her head, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Take that!" he laughed, smearing pancake batter in her hair. He finally let her go, only to laugh even harder as he saw the facial expression smeared across her face. He watched as her jaw dropped even more as she felt the top of her head.

"Oooh, Booth…" she warned, through semi-gritted teeth, a smile poking through. "I can't believe you put pancake batter in my hair!"

Booth, who was still laughing at the look on her face, attempted to take her hands in his. He grabbed one of them, but the other had already grabbed the mostly-full bag of flour sitting on the counter. Letting out a mix between "no!" and "stop!", he suddenly became absolutely and completely covered from head-to-toe in flour. A mushroom cloud of it enveloped the entire kitchen as Brennan began to laugh hysterically.

"What's going on?" Parker asked with an extremely confused face as he stood in the kitchen doorway.

Slowly turning around, Booth wiped flour from his eyes and mouth. "What's going on, Parks, is Bones here is about to wish she hadn't just covered me in flour." As he turned back towards her, her eyes got huge.

Brennan dropped the rest of the bag of flour in the floor, taking off through the small apartment in an attempt to get to the bedroom and lock the door before Booth could catch her. "Bones!" Booth called out, right on her heels.

Squealing along the way, she _almost_ made it. As she got to the bedroom and turned to slam the door behind her, Booth's hand intercepted the door and he pushed his way in with a grin on his face. "Booth…" Brennan had moved herself to the other side of the bed as she wasn't sure if she should be laughing or afraid.

Kicking the door closed with his foot, Booth smirked as he easily locked the door behind himself. "Come here, Bones…" he told her, his tone sweet but thick with sarcasm.

"I don't even think so," she told him as she shook her head, her blue eyes wide. Not sure which way he was going to come after her, Brennan moved back and forth, left to right, in between the bed and the outside-wall.

Booth began to walk around the end of the bed, making Brennan attempt to clear the bed in a straight line for the door. Reaching for the doorknob, she let out a squeal as Booth grabbed her by her waist and pulled her back over to the bed. With a grin, Booth made sure to press as much of his flour-covered body against hers.

After his fingers traced against her sides making her laugh and squirm, Brennan begged for mercy. "Please, Booth!" she tried to fight off his powerful hands as she flailed on top of the bed, never able to get out of reach.

Laughing hysterically, Booth eventually stopped tickling her, brushing some of her breakfast-covered hair out of her face. Looking down into her eyes, he smiled. "You're beautiful," he whispered, his brown eyes full of sincerity despite the chuckling coming from his mouth.

"And you're full of shit," she quipped, trying to catch her breath. Looking him over, she began to laugh again as she saw him covered in the egg and flour. "And we're going to have to wash the bed sheets."

Kissing her, Booth grinned as he pulled back. "You better go wash that out of your hair before it dries. Because if _that_ happens, I know my punishment will be ten times worse than it's already going to be."

Brennan chuckled and kissed him again. "So thoughtful…coming from the man that smeared pancake batter in my _hair_."

* * *

Later in the day, both adults had showered and the kitchen had been cleaned up from their breakfast disaster. Brennan sat on the couch beside booth as mini-Booth sat in the floor in front of them. "So…we're watching football?" she asked.

"Yep," Booth replied, taking a drink of his beer.

"The name is completely irrelevant for this sport," she stated, settling back into the couch. "In _this_ football, there is only one player that actually uses his foot to make contact with the ball, if I'm correct."

"You are correct," Booth assured, wrapping his arm around her, eyes glued on the TV.

"Which teams are playing?" she asked.

"The Steelers and the Patriots," he yet again replied without turning away from the TV.

Brennan shifted her weight against Booth, as she tried to make herself focus on the game. "What does second and seven mean?"

Unnoticeably taking a deep breath, Booth smiled over at her, kissing her temple. "Every time a team gets the ball, they have four chances to move the ball ten yards."

Nodding, Brennan pulled a pillow to her chest. "What if they don't move it ten yards?"

Still sitting in the floor, Parker spun around. "If they don't do it, the other team gets it. If they do move it ten yards, they get four more chances to go four more yards."

"How does this game make any sense?" she asked, her eyes pinched together. "I'm going to go work on my book," she announced, getting up from the couch. She rolled her eyes as she left the room.

* * *

After the first half was over, Booth looked around as his eyebrows pulled together. "Where did Bones go?"

Parker shrugged, getting up to get some chips from the kitchen. "She said something about a book in the middle of the first quarter."

Getting up from the couch, Booth walked back to the master bedroom and opened the door. Peaking inside, he smiled as he saw her sitting on the bed, her laptop open and a few papers scattered across the mattress. "Is the game over?" she asked, pushing her laptop to the side as Booth sat on the edge of the bed.

"Not yet," he kissed her cheek. "It's just halftime. What are you writing?" He reached over to pull her laptop to him.

Pushing the lid down before he could reach it, she shook her head. "Nuh uh," she told him, pulling it out of his reach. "You can't read it until it's finished."

"Why not?" he asked, his brown eyes piercing her blue ones as he cupped her cheek.

"Because those are the rules," she informed him as he leaned in, pressing his lips to her jawline.

"What if I make you an offer you can't refuse?" he asked, his breath hot against her skin. Swirling his tongue across her neck, Booth nipped at her earlobe.

"Booth," Brennan groaned, leaning her head back to allow him easier access. "I can't let you read it yet," she told him.

Leaning over, he pushed her over onto the bed, pressing himself against her as he held his weight off of her. He ran a hand down her hip, gripping at the flannel material covering her skin, as he kissed his way to her collar bones. "What about now?" he whispered, his brown eyes looking up as he began to move to the middle of her breasts.

"Seducing me isn't going to work," she informed him, her eyes rolled back as she grasped a handful of his hair.

"Could've fooled me…" he told her, his breath sending chills up and down her entire body. Kissing her neck one last time, he sat back up and smiled as he got off of the bed.

With a confused look smeared across her face, Brennan's eyes pinched together. "Booth!" she groaned as she watched him reach for the doorknob.

With a grin spread across his face, he stepped back towards her, leaned down, and pressed his lips into hers. "I'll be back after the game is over," he promised.

Brennan rolled her eyes as he left the room. "Ass," she mumbled, pulling her laptop back towards her.


End file.
